TODD'S 



COUNTKY HOMES 



t> 



How to Save Money. 

A PRACTICAL BOOK BY A PRACTICAL MAN. 

CONTAINING 

FULL AND RELM.BLE DIRECTIONS EOR CHOOSING A HOME, 

ERECTING EVERY DESCRIPTION OF HOUSES AND 

OUT-BUILDINGS, PAINTING, GLAZING, &c.; 

TOGETHER WITH 

Invaluable Suggestions and Information on 

DOMESTIC ECONOMY, GENERAL FARMING, FANCY GARDENING, FRUIT 

RAISING, BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OP HORSES, 

CATTLE, SHEEP, SWINE, POULTRY; 

THE WHOLE EMBRACING THE RESULTS OF A 

LIFE-LONG EXPERIENCE. 

Profusely Illustrated with Plans and Perspectives of Buildings, besides 
THIRTEEN FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS. 



By,SERENO EDWARDS TODD. 



rORMEBLT ASSOCIATED WITH THE "CULTIVATOR," "THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN," "AMERICAN AGRI- 
CULTURALIST," AND "NEW YORK TIMES," AND, AT PRESENT, WITU "THE NEW 
YORK OBSEEVEK," AND "WORKING FAEMEE." 



SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. 



HARTFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY, HARTFORD, CONN.; 

J. A. STODDARD & CO., CHICAGO; J. D. DENISON, NEW YORK; 

G. P. HAWKES, boston; J. LAWS & CO., SAN FRANCISCO. 

POWERS & WEEKS, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 

1870. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 

SERENO EDWARDS TODD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for tlie Eastern 

District of New York. 







DEDICATED 

TO 

Hon. D. D. T. MOORE, 

PROPRIETOR OF " MOORE'S RURAL NEW YORKER.'' 



Respected Friend : — Knowing your deep interest in the permanent 
improvement of the agriculture of our country, as well as your high ap- 
preciation of every honest effort to render the world wiser and mankind 
better, permit me to dedicate to you, this little volume, as a token of the 
friendship which, though commenced in mortal life, it is hoped, may 
endure after our career on earth is ended. As you will perceive, I have 
made no attempts of a literary character, except to intersperse, now and 
then, a few poetic effusions to serve as literary buoys to a large cargo of 
heavy ballast. As you are well aware, in lieu of polished professors 
within classic halls, Dame Nature has been my tutor ; domestic animals my 
classmates ; and the love of the stable, the barn-yard, and the stubborn 
soil, my text book. Hence, I have appeared with the completed task of a 
rough hewer, whose muscles have been hardened by grappling with billets 
of wood and shapeless bowlders, and whose fingers have been stiffened by 
unremitting manual labor. I offer no apology for the dust on my farmer's 
toga from the mechanic's workshop, nor for the bespattered insignia of a 
ditcher equipped with India rubber boots, and perfumed with the nectar 
of the stercorary. I trust, that during some leisure moment, you may 
derive as much satisfaction from .perusing some of my paragraphs, as I 
have while penning them. With my best wishes for a long, happy and 

useful life, I remain, 

Faithfully yours, 

SERENO EDWARDS TODD. 



illustratio:n's. 





Frontispiece. 


opposite page 45 


(1 


104 


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194 


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276 


(1 


328 


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368 


<( 


440 


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" 483 



I. Country Homes, 
II. Pioneer Seeking a Home, 

III. The Farmer at Home, 

IV. The Luncheon, . 
V. Building a Log Cabin, 

VI. The Well-to-do Farmer, 
VII. The Shiftless Farmer, 
VIII. Spring-time, 
IX. Race, Road and Working Horses, 

1. Carriage Horse. 2. English Race Horse. 
3. American Trotter. 4. Percheron. 
X. Favorite Breeds of Cattle, 
1. Ayrshires. 2. Jerseys. 
3. Devons. 4. Durhams. 
XI. Noted Breeds of Sheep, 

1, Thorougli-bred Merinos. 

3. Thorough-bred Leicester. 
XII. Most Profitable Breeds of Swine, . opposite page 599 

1. Suffolk. 2. Yorkshire. 3. Cheshire. 

4. Essex. 5. Chester White. 6. Berkshire. 

XIII. Best Breeds of Poultry, ... *' " 635 

With about seventy smaller illustrations, representing Perspec- 
tives OF Dwelling-houses, with plans of the first and second 
floors, Barns and Out-buildings, different kinds op Grain, etc. 



518 



" " 565 
2. Thorough-bred South Downs. 
4. Thorough-bred Cotswolds. 



PEEFAOE. 



" A useful book may live from age to age ; 
And those unborn may read its printed page." 

An author is always expected to record, in the pref- 
ace, certain plausible reasons, as an apology, for writ- 
ing a book. Yery few writers, however, ever men- 
tion the primary object in writing a book, which is 
making money. Some write for the sake of notoriety, 
and money, while others have other objects in view, 
and money. Yet, we rarely meet with a person who 
will acknowledge that money had any influence in 
prompting him to become an author. To be brief, 
then, my apology for presenting this book to the public 
is money. But, in gaining the desired reward for my 
labors, I had a magnanimous and philanthropic object 
in view, which is, to aid a very few of the one hundred 
thousand or more young men, boys and ladies, just 
commencing their career in life, who need counsel, and 
advice, in their efforts to rise to a glorious manhood. 

The arrangement is such, that the book may be ex- 
amined, readily, by a reference to the subjects in the 
Index. In order to embody as much practical informa- 
tion, as the prescribed limits would permit, I have 



VI AUTHOK S PKEFACE. 

merely recorded the leading thoughts, and a few of the 
more important details connected with the various 
subjects. The chapters on general farming, and those 
on domestic animals, cover ground that has been 
written upon by very few authors. I have endeavored 
to render each chapter as complete as j)Ossible, under 
the circumstances. After a beginner has become 
familiar with all the details and suggestions laid 
down in each chapter, he will be well prej)ared to 
peruse more voluminous publications, appropriated to 
each subject. Some of the articles were originally 
written, while connected, editorially, with the American 
Agriculturist, New York Times, and the New York 
Observer. My chief aim has been to tell beginners 
what to do and how to do- it, enforcing the precepts 
by my own practical experience. 

SERENO EDWARDS TODD. 
Brooklyn, L. I. 



PUBLISHERS' PEEFACE. 



In presenting this book to the patronage of a discriminating 
public, whose patience is often tried, and whose time is fre- 
quently wasted by agents importuning them to buy some 
worthless work, the publishers deem it not unsuitable for them 
to offer a few words, by way of preface, which the modesty of 
the author might leave unsaid. It is not our purpose to dis- 
cuss the importance of such a work as the present, for its 
value is admitted by every one, but simply to point out the 
special merit of this book in regard to several things, which, 
for the sake of system, we may enumerate as follows : 1st. The 
qualifications of the author. 2d. The difference between this 
work and others of a similar character, 3d. The return which 
it makes as an investme7it. 

The Qualifications of the Authoe. — Born in circum- 
stances which required the exercise of economy, perseverance 
and industry, Mr. Todd's life has been one of successful activity. 
With an education, superior to that acquired by most young 
men who are self-made^ he is, at the same time, no theorist or 
day dreamei', but has " been through the mill," and is thoroughly 
versed in the subjects upon which he writes. His early life 
and struggles for independence, his experience in trading with 
sharpers, his shrewd economy and foresight, his wealth of re- 
source and ingenuity, and his gradual rise in the world, form 
the subject matter of one entire chapter, portraying in a simple, 
graphic manner, the every day life of a man who is bound to 
push his way in the face of obstacles, and who always has an 



Vlll PUBLISHERS PREFACE. 

honest eye to the main chance. At one tune a builder of 
houses, at another a maker of sleighs and buggies ; again a 
farmer and raiser of stock ; now studying the convenient ar- 
rangement of rooms in a dwelling-house, and now the best 
method of sheltering cattle ; to-day, raising wheat, and to-mor- 
row, building an ice-house ; a little while ago, deep in the mys- 
teries of paint, mortar, calcimine and varnish, and anon watch- 
ing the effects of deep plowing and underdraining. The 
author's time has not been misspent, and the fruit of his long 
experience and research has been widely enjoyed over our entire 
land. Such journals as the Country G-entleman, American Ag- 
riculturist, New York Times, New York Observer, and Hearth 
and Home, have employed his services to enrich their columns, 
while the sale of '•'■Todd's Young Fariner^s Manual,^^ and '•'•Todd's 
American Wheat Culturist,^^ attest the estimation in which his 
opinion and advice are held by practical men throughout the 
country. 

The Points of difference between this "Work and 
OTHERS OF A SIMILAR CHARACTER. — The real difference be- 
tween one thing and another of the same kind, is not always to 
be ascertained by a superficial examination, but we desire to 
assist those who really wish to learn whether this book is like 
every other farmers' book or not, by mentioning its most promi- 
nent, distinctive features. One of the most noticeable, is the 
fact that it is not an advertising medium. It is a very easy and 
cheap method of getting up a book, to obtain from dealers all 
over the land, descriptions of their specialties, finely illustrated, 
and to unite these all in one heterogeneous mass, under the title 
of " Information for the people." This has been carefully 
avoided in preparing the present volume, as an examination of 
its pages will testify. Another feature is the union of mechan- 
ical and agricultural topics. Several works on rural architec- 
ture have been published, and also a large number on the dif- 
ferent farming operations, but in no volume with which we are 
acquainted, has the due proportion of the two topics been so 
carefully observed. The eminently practical nature of the work 



PUBLISHERS PREFACE. IX 

13 also deserving of mention. Every detail in house-building, 
even to buying the nails and putting on the laths, is carefully 
explained. Complete estimates of the cost of building, are 
given, plans and specifications are multiplied, and numerous 
fine perspectives of various styles of cottages, barns and out- 
houses, are introduced. The comfort and convenience of every 
member of the fiimily is thought of: the attractiveness and 
utility of the grounds and farm, receive due attention. The 
care taken in the mechanical execution of the book, is also com- 
mended to the notice of those who are familiar with the ' slip- 
shod ' manner in which subscription books are too often put 
together. It would be more profitable to buy cheap paper, em- 
ploy cheap printers and binders, and sell the book at a lower 
price, but it is the aim of the publishers to sell such books as 
shall retain as regular customers, those who once enter the list 
of their patrons. 

The Return which it makes as ax Tnyestment. — It is 
always well, and in the present " hard times" it is especially 
proper, to inquire, " What return shall I get from the use of 
my money in a certain way," and to the man who is hesitating 
about the paying properties of this book, we offer the following 
suggestions. Are you about to build or buy a house ? This 
treatise on that very subject, will enable you to save hundreds 
of dollars. That sounds large, and you may be incredulous, 
but we will prove it. Here are complete estimates, which will 
serve as models that can be applied to any structure, enabling 
you to calculate accurately the fair cost of any building, and 
thus to save the overcharge to Avhich you would, otherwise, 
inevitably be subjected. Here are plans and perspectives, 
which will render it easy for you to devise your own structure 
— an expensive job, when put into the hands of an architect. 
Have you spare time and some mechanical genius ? Here are 
suggestions about buying timber, the quantity, size and quality 
of the stuff required, the method of digging cellars and laying 
foundations, and the way to commence a house and carry it 
on to completion, in its minutest details. Here are recipes for 



X PUBLISHERS PEEFACE. 

making mortar, cement, w^hitewash, varnish, paint, calcimine, 
etc. Have you a farm ? Here are directions for its most prof- 
itable cultivation, oiFered by a man who has a thorough knowl- 
edge of that branch of industry. Are your efforts confined to 
the limited space of a garden ? These pages will give you 
many valuable hints in regard to its successful management. 
Have you a horse, a cow, a pig, or a flock of hens ? Tliis book 
treats largely and minutely of the proper method of rearing, 
feeding, using, and making money out of the domestic animals, 
and will help you to be a good judge of all kinds of farm prod- 
ucts, even if you are interested in them only as a purchaser. 
Are you striving to economize, and to " make both ends meet ? " 
Our author has been through all this before you, and has here 
recorded his experience, by which you may readily profit. 
Finally, are you puzzled and perplexed over some question 
arising out of the manifold duties of the household and farm ? 
The chances are that you can find its complete solution, or 
at least a hint in the right direction, between the covers of 
" Todd's Country Homes." 

We have often been requested to publish such a book, and 
have become convinced that the popular demand for it, is suflS- 
cient to warrant us in this undertaking. Neither the author 
nor the publishers have spared any pains to produce a first class 
work of real value^ and we are confident that the universal 
verdict of our customers, will sustain us in the opinion which 
we here express, that " Todd's Country Homes " is 

The Best Subscription Book of the Year. 



CO]N"TEI^TS. 



CHAPTER I. 

RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 

The Builders' Glossaky. — Containing clear and intelligible definitions 
of more than one hundred technical terms in building, . . . .17 

CHAPTER H. 

CHOOSING A HOME. 

The Salutary Influence of Home — Location of Farm Buildings — Site for 
Summer Residence — Where shall we Locate 1 — Flee to the Country — Plot- 
ting the Fiirm and laying out the Field — Economy in the grovvmg Trees 
— Beginning to Build a House — Prelimmaries for Building — Tlie Laborer's 
Kitchen — Estimate of Cost — Suggestions about Aspect — How to compute 
the cost of a House — Excavating for Cellars — Estimate of Expense — 
Foundation of Buildings — Construction of a Cellar — How to Build Abut- 
ment Walls — Rendering a Wet Cellar Dry — Causes of Wet and Damp Cel- 
lars — Half walls for Cellars — Regulating Temperature of Cellars — Honest 
Tricks of Joiners — Joiner's Contract and Specifications — Working Sea- 
soned Timber — The Height of Buildings — Size of Building Timber — 
Best Form of Joists — Cheap House for a Beginner — Bill of Materials — ^A 
Poor Man's Cottage, 30 

CHAPTER in. 

RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 

Hazel-Dell Cottage, with Plans — Cheap Italian Villa, with Plans — Cost of 
Coaskuction — Oyster-Shell ViUa — Important Suggestions to Beginners — 



Xll CONTENTS. 

Koof of Dwelling-liouses — Bracket Finish — Automatic Dirt-Catcher — Re- 
shinghng Old Roofs— How to Raise a Roof— Gutters, Eave-troughs and 
Spouting — Batten Doors — Air-tight Doors — Management of Flooring — 
Preservation of Timber in Buildings — Suggestions about Concrete Walls 
— Sea-side Park Cottage, with Plans — Morning-Glory Cottage, with Plans 
— Clerk's Cottage — Cobble-stone Houses — Mechanic's Cottage, with Plans 
— Suburban Cottage, with Plans — How to make Good Mortar — Hydraulic 
Mortar — Doing Mason Work in Freezing Weather, 120 



CHAPTER IV. 

PAINTING AND ORNAMENTATION. 

The Philosophy of Painting — Painting Buildings and Farm Implements — 
Materials for Making Paint — Suggestions for Boiling Oil — Making Paint 
of White Lead — How to Paint an Old House — Dead-white Paint — To 
make a LightLead Color— Blue Paint— Green Paint— Red Paint— Care of 
Paint-Brushes— To make Rough Paint Smooth— Shellac Varnish— To 
make Old Varnish Dry— Coal- Tar or Tar-Paint— Benzole— How to Paint 
Window-Blinds— Portable Staging for a Roof— Painting and Glazing 
Window-Sashes— How to make Good Putty— A Putty Knife— Sanding 
Paint— How to Whitewash Neatly— Calcimining Walls— Hanging Wall- 
Paper, 193 



CHAPTER V. 

WELLS AND CISTERNS. 

Value of a Good Well-Suggestions about Digging Wells— How to Exca- 
vate—A Well-Digger's Bucket— The Size of Wells— How to Stone a 
Well— How to Dig Wells in Slate— Practical Advantages of a Syphon- 
Making Cement Water-Pipe— The Core-Rod-How to Build Wooden 
Cisterns— Brick or Stone Cisterns— Water-Lime Cisterns— Covering Cis- 
terns—The Capacity of Cisterns— Drain-Tiles for Water-Pipe— Raising 
Water with a Wind-mill- How to make Wooden Water-Pipe— Lead 
Water-Pipe- Manner of Joining Tin-lined Pipe— Joining Lead Pipe with- 
out Soldering, "'^^ 



CONTENTS. xm 

CHAPTER VI. 

BARNS AND OUT- BUILDINGS. 

Manner of Framing a Large Barn— Selecting Durable or Perishable Timber 
—Cut Nails, and How to Use them— The Way to Purchase Building 
Materials— Framing Buildings by the Scribe or Square Rule— A Cheap 
Barn and Out-Building— A Cheap Cornice, 239 



CHAPTER VH. 

VENTILATION. 

Thorough Ventilation of Living-Rooras — ^Necessity of Ventilation — ^Natural 
Means of Ventilation— Cold Air Better than Warm Air— Suggestions 
about Night Air — How to Ventilate — Examples of Successful Ventilation, 263 



CHAPTER Vm. 

DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 

Personal Reminiscences — Commencing Life — A Fiddling Farmer — The Old 
Maid's Money — Beginning to Live — Making Choice Pork — Management 
of Hams — Planning and Building my own House — How I built our House 
Without Money — How the Nails and Shingles were Procured — How the 
Laths were Obtained — The Circular Stairs — Cementing the Bottom of the 
Cellar — How the Window-Blinds were Obtained — The Manner of Making 
the Doors — Making the Brackets — Our Bridal Harness — How I got our 
Bridal Buggy — Our Sleigh and Bridal Cutter — How I paid for my Wife's 
Muff — Saving Money in New Inventions — How to get a Patent — Care 
and Management of Shoes — Black your own Boots — Shoes to Fit the 
Feet— Remedy for Cold Feet, . . 273 

CHAPTER IX. 

ICE AND ICE-HOUSES. 

Construction of Ice-Houses — Balloon Frame of an Ice-House — Erecting the 
Superstructure — Saving Ice without a House — An Underground Ice- 
House, 319 



XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

GENERAL FARMING OPERATIONS. 

Large vs. Small Farms— Outfit of a Small Farm— Learning to be a Farmer 
—A Renovating System— Under-draining Wet Land—The Proper Depth 
of Drains— Thorough Tillage— How to Plow Deep— Maintaining the 
Fertility of the Soil— Rotation of Crops— Making Beef, Pork and Mutton 
—Manure— Culture of Wheat— How to Improve the Seed— Best Soil for 
Wheat— Preparation of the Soil for Wheat— Prevention of Smut in 
Wheat— Drilhng in Wheat— Cultivation of Oats— Quantity of Seed per 
Acre— Manuring the Soil for Oats— The Proper Time to Cut Oats— How 
to Save Seed Oats— Cultivation of Rye— Ergot in Rye— Cultivation of 
Clover in all its varieties— Cultivation of Barley— Importance of Clean 
Seed— When to Harvest Barley— Making Malt, 328 



CHAPTER XI. 

HORTICULTURE AND POMOLOGY. 

The Kitchen Garden— Under-draining Gardens— Preparation of the Soil- 
How to Spade a Garden— General Principles of Horticulture— When to 
Plant Seeds— What Seeds to Plant Early— The Great Utility of Weeds- 
Garden Tools— How to Transplant— Cultivation of Carrots— Of Parsnips 
—Of Asparagus— Of Beans— Of Lima Beans— Of Beets— Of Egg-Plants— 
Of Celery— Of Melons and Squashes— Of Field Peas— Of Garden Peas— 
Of Tomatoes— Of Turnips— Of Indian Corn— Of Sweet Corn— Of Irish 
Potatoes— Of Cauliflowers— Of Cabbages— Planting an Orchard— The 
True Way to Produce Fruit Trees— Why, When, and How to Prune- 
Treatment of Wounds— Mulching Trees and Plants— The Correct Way 
to Water Plants— Insects— Renovating Old Fruit Trees— Cultivation of 
Gooseberries— Of Currants— Of Strawberries— Of Raspberries and Black- 
berries—Of Grapes— Pruning and Training— Management of Old Vines, . 407 

CHAPTER XH. 

BREEDING AND REARING OF HORSES. 

The Denominations of Horses — Choice of Stallions — Horses for Agricul- 
tural Purposes — Selecting Breeding Mares — To make Barren Mares 



CONTENTS. XV 

Breed— Preparations for roaling— Working Brood Mares— Management 
of Foals— The Way to Break Colts— Manner of Bitting Colts— Riding 
Colts— Feeding Horses— Preparing Feed for Horses— Kcjuvenating Old 
Horses— Watering Horses— The True Way to Drive Horses— Abuse of 
the Check -rein— Fatal Effects of Overdriving— Light for Horse Stables- 
Hobbling Horses, 483 



CHAPTEK XIII. 

BREEDING AND REARING NEAT CATTLE. 

Denominations of Cattle— Points of an Excellent Milch Cow— Exercising 
Milch Cows— Maintaining a Full Flow of Milk— Apples for Milch Cows 
—Roots for Cattle— Previous Management— The Right Way to Milk- 
Remedy for Kicking— Management of Heifers— How Long should Cows 
be Milked 1 — Pure Water for Milch Cows — Abortion in Cows — Cause of 
Garget in Milch Cows — Making Excellent Butter — How to Work Butter 
— Packing Butter — Making Yellow Butter in Winter — Daily Care of 
Bulls — How to "Rarey" an Ox or Bull — Management of Calves — Wean- 
ing Calves — Stock from Hay to Grass — Fattening Old Cows and Oxen — 
The best kind of Food for Fattening Stock, 518 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BREEDING AND REARING SHEEP. 

Common Denominations of Sheep— Selecting Stock Rams— Management of 
Yeaning Ewes— Rearing Lambs by hand— Owning a Strange Lamb— Re- 
viving a Chilled Lamb— Weaning Lambs— Docking Lambs— General 
Management of Young Sheep— The True Way to Handle Sheep- Deter- 
mhiing the Age of Sheep— Feeding Sheep, and Making Mutton— Why 
Making Mutton is not more Profitable— Feeding Sheep in tlitf Day-time- 
Making Fancy Mutton— Peas and Beans for Sheep— Mutton the Best 
Meat— Washing Sheep— Shearing Sheep— Way to Hold a Sheep when 
Shearing— Winter Management of Sheep— Tagging Sheep, . . .565 



XVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XV. 

REARING AND MANAGEMENT OF SWINE. 

Denominations of Swine — The Great Value of Swine — Rules for Crossing 
Swine — Ci-ossing Large Breeds with Small Ones — How to Select Breeding 
Swine — Cross Breeds Better than Pure Breeds — Breeding from Young 
Sows — Preparation for Farrowing — Management after Farrowing — Man- 
agement of Pigs — The Piggery — How to make Doors for a Piggery — How 
to make Hog-troughs — The Neat Habits of Swine — Grinding Grain for 
Domestic Animals — The Advantage of Cooking Feed — Fattening Swine — 
Swine Hygiene — Treatment for Scours, 599 



CHAPTER XVI. 

REARING AND MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY. 

Denominations of Poultry — A Ton of Poidtry — Improving the Breed of 
Poultry — Management of Turkeys — How to Make Turkeys' Nests — A 
Cheap Rustic Hennery — Management of Young Chickens — Eggs and 
their Management — Eggs for Sitting — How to Keep Eggs Fresh — Con- 
stant Access to Food — Remedy for Lice, 635 



TODD'S COUNTRY HOMES. 



CHAPTER I. 

" Between broad fields of wheat and corn, 
Is the low home where I was born ; 
The peach-tree leans against the wall, 
And woodbines wander over all." 

T. B. Read. 

EUKAL AECHITECTUEE. 

THE BUILDER'S GLOSSARY. 

Every person who is about to aid in erecting a 
building, should have a correct understanding of the 
various parts of an ordinary edifice. To aid beginners 
in performing their labors in an intelligible manner, it 
has been deemed best to insert the following Glossary, 
which will enable any one, at a glance, to understand 
the correct signification of all ordinary architectural 
terms. Boys and young men should study this Gloss- 
ary, that they may be able to get the correct idea, 
when a given part of a building is spoken of 

Abacus is the upper portion or member of the cap- 
ital of a column on which the architrave is placed. 

Abutment is the solid mass of earth or masonry at the 
end of a bridge or pier. Or it may be the solid part of 
a pier which supports an arch on which a bridge rests. 

Arcade, the covered walk along the side or middle 
of a building, where columns support the arches. 

Arch is a curved, self-sustaining structure of wood, 
stone, or other material, with the ends supported on 



18 todd's countey homes, and 

pillars, or abutments. The ^e^z-stone of an arch is the 
last stone that is laid in the crown. Arches are built 
over a frame of wood, or other material ; and after the 
key-stone is put in its place, the frame or earth beneath 
is removed. 

I am acquainted with a farmer who made an ice- 
house in the abutment of his large barn, on the slope 
of a hill. He first removed the earth, and carried up 
the side walls to the point where the arch was to com- 
mence. Then, instead of incurring the expense of a 
costly, wooden frame, the lumber for which would be 
a dead loss, he built a platform of planks on strong 
posts, even with the top of the walls; and then piled 
earth on the platform, rammed it down and smoothed 
off the surface to correspond with the form of the un- 
der side of the arch. The arch was then made of wide 
flat stones, set on the edge. Narrow boards were laid 
on the form of earth that was to support the arch. 
After the key-stones were all put in their places, the 
earth form was removed. A wooden form would have 
cost four times as much as this form of earth, without 
subserving any more satisfactory purpose. 

Attic is the garret of a dwelling-house, or the upper 
story, immediately beneath the roof. V\^hen a house 
has a flat roof, so that the walls overhead in the upper 
rooms are not inclined, the upper story is not properly 
called the attic, but the upper or third story. 

Balcony is a projection from the outer wall of a 
building. It is usually placed before a window, or 
door, in one of the upper stories. A balcony is sup- 
ported by columns or by brackets; ^nd a railing en- 
closes the space occupied by the floor. 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 19 

Balusters are the upright portions of a railing or 
balustrade. These pieces are sdme times turned round, 
and sometimes are four-square, or of an octagonal form. 
They are sometimes called banisters; but incorrectly so. 

Balustrade is the railing made of the hand rail, the 
banisters, the " newel post " and corner posts, along a 
flight of stairs. (See newel post.) 

Barge-hoards, or verge-boards, are the finishing 
boards on the gable end of a building, the upper edge 
of which is even with top of the roofing boards. 

Batten is a strip of board, either thick or thin, nar- 
row or wide, secured to the surface of smooth work. 
Narrow strips, called battens, are nailed over the cracks 
of boards that are put on buildings vertically. 

Bay is the mow of a barn, which extends to the 
ground below the main floor. 

Bay Window consists of an exterior projection of a 
house provided with circular, or angular windows, rest- 
ing on a foundation that extends below the surface of 
the ground. 

An oriel window is similar to a bay window, the only 
difi'erence being in this, that the oriel window rests on 
brackets, or cross-joists, while the bay window rests on 
a foundation that extends to the ground. 

Bead is a round or half-round moulding; or some 
ornamentation like a string of beads. 

Bond-timber, timber laid in a wall horizontally, for 
tying it together. 

Boudoir, private ladies' room, for calls, dressing- 
room, etc. 

Box-shutters, shutters folding into cases, on the in- 
side of windows. 



20 todd's country homes, and 

Bracket, a support for shelves, stairs, balconies, but 
now more commonly for projecting roofs. (See illus- 
tration of a bracket under the head of a bracket finish, 
on a subsequent page.) 

Buttress, a lateral projection, a prop or support of 
masonry against the sides of a building, to resist pres- 
sure and stiffen walls. 

Campanile, a tower on a building, serving as a 
belfry. 

Capital, the upper, projecting and ornamental part 
of a column. 

Casement, applied to windows divided into two parts 
by the mullion, and hung on hinges. 

Cess-pool, a well or cistern under the mouth of a 
drain, to receive the sediment which flows from a water 
closet, or from the kitchen. 

Cobble-stone, a round stone, often used for walls of 
buildings by imbedding in regular courses in mortar or 
cement. 

Collar-beam is a piece of timber of any desired size, 
which extends from the lower end of one rafter to 
another. The ends may be nailed to the sides of the 
rafters ; or the rafters and beam may be framed to- 
gether. 

Colonnade, a range of columns. 

Column, a pillar consisting of base, shaft or body, 
and capital. 

Coping, the capping stone or brick covering of a 
wall, wider than the wall itself, to throw off the water. 

Corinthian Order, an order of Grecian architecture. 

Cornice is the projecting finish beneath the eaves 
and at the gable ends of a roof. 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 21 

Corridor is a kind of gallery or passage way, either 
on the inside or the outside of a building, which fur- 
nishes easy communication with various apartments 
of the edifice. 

Course, a continuous horizontal range of stones or 
brick in a wall, row of studs, or layer of shingles. 

Cross-bridged, the cross-bracing placed between a 
series of timbers or joists. 

Cupola, a spheroidal roof or dome, but more com- 
monly a small structure on the top of a dome. 

Curh-roof, sometimes mwisarc^-roof, but more com- 
monly in the United States, gamhrel-rooi, a roof with 
the lower half inclined at a steeper angle. 

Deafening, a floor covered with mortar placed be- 
neath a common floor, to exclude sound, and prevent 
the passage of flames. 

Details is an expression applied to the drawings of 
the separate parts of a building, usually termed work- 
ing drawings. 

Doric is an order of Grecian architecture, interme- 
diate between the Ionic style of architecture and the 
Tuscan. This style of architecture is plain, simple and 
strong. 

Dormer-window is the window in the tjmpanum of 
a pediment. (See pediment.) Dormer-windows are 
made only in sloping roofs. 

Dovetail is the form of a joint in which tenons and 
corresponding ganes are made in the form of the tail 
of a dove, when the feathers are spread. 

Dowel, or dowel-pins, are pins employed to hold two 
pieces of wood together more securely. 

Dumh-waiter is a kind of cupboard that is employed 



22 todd's countky homes, and . 

to elevate or lower dishes or food from one story to 
another. 

Elevation is a representation or engraving of only 
one side of a building. Elevation differs from perspec- 
tive in this particular, that in a perspective drawing 
two sides of a building are seen. 

Entablature includes all the parts of an order of arch- 
itecture above a column. When the entablature is s^do- 
ken of, the entire cornice is embraced in the idea. 

Fascia is a band, or fillet, for ornamentation, some- 
times spoken of as fillets. 

Frieze is the middle portion of an entablature, be- 
tween the architrave and cornice. (See Webster's Il- 
lustrated Dictionary.) 

Furring means studs, or pieces of plank spiked to a 
brick or concrete wall, on the inside, for holding the 
lath. Also, thin strips of boards or lath nailed to nar- 
row joists, to make the edges even with the wide ones, 
for receiving the lath. 

Gable means the triangular end of a roof above the 
plates of a building. 

Gain or gane is a notch, or cut, in the framing tim- 
bers of a building for receiving joists or sleepers. 

Gingerbread work embraces ornamental wood carv- 
ing and all fanciful cut work and ornamentation of 
dwelling-houses. 

Girders are any beams or joists that serve to hold 
the various parts of a frame together. In common 
parlance, these parts of a frame are called "girts." 
Any timbers or strips that extend from stud to stud, or 
from post to post, are girders. 

Gothic Architecture represents the pointed style of 
building. 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. " 23 

Headers are the bricks that are laid across the stretch- 
ers or the courses of bricks that are laid lengthways 
of the wall. 

Hawhe, a board about a foot square, for holding mor- 
tar when a mason is plastering. 

Hod, a kind of triangular tray, employed by tenders 
to carry mortar and bricks. It is provided with a long 
handle, so that the tray may rest on the shoulder of 
the laborer. 

Hl2')ped-roof means a roof with sloping ends, or that 
slants on every side of the building; and terminates 
in a point or nearly so, at the summit. 

Hydraulic Cement is mortar made of water-lime and 
sand, which hardens like stone under water, and is used 
for cisterns, cellar bottoms, and for many other pur- 
poses. (See water-lime.) 

Ionic Order, a Grecian order of architecture. 

Italian Architecture is an irregular and beautiful 
style of modern architecture, possessing many of the 
characteristics of the Roman, and a variety nearly 
equal to that of the Gothic. It has projecting eaves, 
arcades, balconies and ornamental chimney-tops, with 
rather flat roofs. 

Jamh-casing, the perpendicular casings of a window 
or door which extend crossways of the hall. 

Joists are the timbers of a floor, which extend from 
beam to beam, or from stud to stud, as in a balloon 
frame. The beams or sticks of timber on which the 
first floor rests are sometimes called sleepers. 

Mastic, any kind of plaster or cement that is em- 
ployed to cover the outside of concrete, brick, or other 
buildings. (See the manner of covering the oyster- 
shell house in this book.) 



24 todd's countky homes, and 

Landing, the floor at the head of a flight of stairs, 
or portion of a flight. 

Lintel is the head-piece of a door or window-frame, 
sometimes of stone and sometimes of wood. 

Lobby is a waiting-room, or entrance to some of the 
rooms of a dwelling. There may be a stairway in a 
lobby, or not. 

Mullion, the upright post, or bar, dividing the two 
or more parts of a window. 

Newel, or newel post, is the column about which the 
steps of a spiral staircase wind. 

Notch-hoard, the board which receives the ends of 
the steps of a flight of stairs. 

Oriel-Window, a projecting window, supported on a 
corbel or other projection. It differs from a bay-win- 
dow, the latter being made with a foundation resting 
on the ground. 

Ovolo, a convex moulding, the profile of which forms 
about a quarter of a circle on its lower inclined side. 

Panel, a sunken space, most commonly applied to 
the portion of a door between the upright pieces called 
styles, and the horizontal pieces called rails. 

Parlor, the sitting-room or living room of a family, 
or for the common intercourse of a family; but at 
present more commonly restricted to a room for visit- 
ors. In other words, it is one of the rooms that people 
in the country keep to look at about once a week. 

Pedestal, the lower part or base of a column, con- 
sisting of the die or square trunk, the cornice or head, 
and the hase or foot; also, the support of a vase, 
statue, &c. 

Pediment, the triangular or circular part of a portico, 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 25 

between the roof and top of the entablature. The flat 
portion is termed the tympanum. , 

Pendent., an ornament hanging from the vault of a 
roof in Gothic architecture ; but more commonly from 
the peak of a gable — the lower part of the ornament 
being the pendent, and the portion above the roof the 
hip-hioh ov jinial. 

Perch, a term employed in measuring stone work, 
either dry or laid up in mortar, signifying sixteen and 
a-half feet long and one foot square; or 16 1-2 cubic 
feet. The perch differs from the roc:? in this particular: 
There may be several perches in one rod. When laying 
stone fence, the builder estimates his work by the rod, 
and not by the perch. A pole is 16 1-2 feet square. 

Piazza, usually a covered walk on one or more sides 
of a building, supported on one side by pillars. It is 
used nearly synonymous with veranda, although the 
latter generally means a portion of a building that has 
a lean-to roof. (See veranda.) 

Pitch of a roof is spoken of in various terms. When 
a building is sixteen feet wide, and the ridge of the 
roof is four feet higher than the plates, the roof is said 
to have "a quarter pitch." When the ridge is one- 
third the width of the building higher than the plates, 
the roof has a "third pitch." When the length of 
each rafter is equal to the width of the house, the pitch 
is a "Gothic pitch." But, when the rafters are longer 
than the width of the building, the roof is said to have 
a "knife-edge pitch." 

Plate is the stick of timber that supports the lower 
ends of the rafters. In a balloon frame, the plate is 
simply a piece of scantling nailed on the up^Dcr ends of 
the studs. 



26 todd's country homes, and 

Rdbhet, a cut made on one side or edge of a board, 
or casing, to receive a door; or the edge of some other 
board or casing. 

Rafters are the pieces of timber that rest on the 
plate to support the roof. Joist-rafters are timbers 
which supjDort the roofing on the upper side, and the 
ceihncr on the under side. 

Roof, the upper covering of a building, whatever 
may be the pitch. (See Worcester's Illustrated Diction- 
ary for diagrams of the various kinds of roofs. Read, 
also, pitch of roof, in a preceding paragraph.) 

An M-roof is made by allowing the eaves of two or 
more roofs to come together, thus forming a valley. 

Rough-cast, a kind of mastic, or a rough mortar or 
cement for covering the exterior walls of buildings, 
mixed with pebbles, or small shells. 

Rubhle, small rough stones, used for walls or filling 
between walls. 

Rustic-work, building with the faces of stone left 
rough, and the joining sides wrought smooth. Also 
ornamental wood structures, with the bark on ; or rus- 
tic work may be made of roots of trees, scraped clean 
and put together in the form of chairs or long seats. 

Scarf-joint, a joint made by cutting away corres- 
ponding portions of timbers so as to unite them, mak- 
ing one long piece. 

Shaft, the princij)al or central part of a column ; the 
chimney above the roof. 

Shoe, the projecting part of a water pipe at bottom, 
to throw the water from the building. 

Siding, the exterior side covering of boards to a 
building. Siding are often called clapboards. 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 27 

Sill, the lower horizontal timber of a frame, door or 
window. 

Specification, an exact written description of the dif- 
ferent parts of a building to be erected. 

Springer, the base of an arch ; the roof of a groined 
house. 

Stack, a number of chimney-shafts combined in one. 

Stile, the vertical piece in framing or paneling. 

Strut, an oblique timber in a frame, serving as a 
brace. The term brace is usually applied to smaller 
and shorter pieces. 

Stucco, a fine plaster for covering walls, and for in- 
terior decorations. It is sometimes made of pulverized 
marble and plaster of Paris ; but the best is made of 
two parts of sharp and perfectly pure sand, and one 
part of the best and purest lime, the latter slackened 
with water to a fine powder, sifted and mixed with the 
sand. This is especially designed for inside work. 
Stucco is sometimes spoken of as mastic, which see. 

Stud, an upright piece of timber inserted in or nailed 
to a sill to support the plate of a building. Stud is a 
term usually applied to the upright scantling of a frame. 

Surhase, a cornice or series of mouldings above the 
pedestal ; also applied to the board which passes hori- 
zontally around the walls of a room, to j)rotect them 
from the backs of chairs. 

Terra Cotta, baked clay ; architectural decorations, 
vases, chimney-tops, etc., made of a mixture of pure 
clay and broken flints, crushed pottery, and other ma- 
terials and burned to the hardness of stone. 

Tie, timber serving to bind walls or other parts of 
a building together. 



28 todd's country homes, and 

Trap, a small water reservoir in a drain-pipe, to in- 
tercept bad odors and retain sediment. The door is 
made so as to let water out of a conduit, but to prevent 
the liquids returning. For this purpose the door fits 
water-tight against the end of the conduit, which is 
slanting like a steep roof of a building. 

Truss, a horizontal timber supported by bracings 
above, so as to form a long span without posts below. 

Turret, a small tower usually attached to, and form- 
ing part of another tower. 

Tuscan, the simplest order of architecture, formed in 
Italy in the fifteenth century. 

Valley, the receding angle formed by the meeting 
of two inclined sides of a roof 

Venetian-hlind, a window-blind made of slats of wood 
strung together so as to be raised or lowered by a 
string on the inside of a window. 

Venetian-door, a door having panes of glass on each 
side for lighting the entrance hall. 

Veranda, a covered walk on the side of a building, 
like an awning, with slender pillars, and frequently 
partly enclosed with lattice-work. It differs from a pi- 
azza, as there is a floor or rooms above a piazza, but 
never above a veranda; a veranda is usually understood 
to be more secluded than a piazza. An arbor veranda is 
where the roof is merely a frame covered with foliage. 

Verge-hoard, the gable ornament of wood work — 
often called harge-hoard. 

Vestibide, an entrance to a dwelling-house. (See 
Webster's or Worcester's Dictionary for a definition 
of vestibule, which may, with propriety, be spoken of 
as a lohh?/.) 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 29 

Villa, a country house for a wealthy person. 

Volute, a scroll or spiral ornament, which forms the 
principal distinction of the Ionic capital, and is also 
found in the Corinthian and Composite. 

Water-closet, a privy, supplied with a stream of 
water, or water pipe, to keep it clean. 

Weather-board, a board on the gable from the ridge 
to the eaves ; the outer boards of a building nailed so 
as to overlap and throw off rain. 

Weather-moulding, a moulding or drip-stone, over a 
door or window, to throw off rain. 

Well-hole, the space enclosed by the walls of a cir- 
cular staircase. 

Working-drawings, drawings of different parts of a 
building, according to accurate measurement, including 
plans, elevations, profiles and sections, by which the 
builders are to be guided. 

Wainscot, the wooden lining on the interior surface 
of a side wall. Wainscoting differs from ceiling in this 
respect, viz., boards that are employed overhead are 
said to be "the ceiling," while on the sides the boards 
are called " the wainscoting." 



OHAPTEE II 

CHOOSING A HOME. 

The Salutary Influences of Home — Location of Farm Buildings — Site for 
Summer Residence — Laying out the Farm — Preliminaries for Build- 
ing — The Laborer's Kitchen — Suggestions about Aspect — How to 
Compute the Cost of a House — Excavating Cellars — Foundation of 
Buildings — How to build Abutment Walls — Rendering Wet Cellars 
Dry—The Height of Buildings — Estimates of Cost — A Poor Man's 
Cottage. 

" Be this our home — that ever-hallowed spot — 
To plant a palace, or a lowly cot." 

It has alwaj^s seemed to be an institution of divine 
appointment, that every well-regulated family should 
have a home ; and, that children, after they have ar- 
'rived to years of manhood and womanhood, should quit 
the paternal abode, as honey-bees swarm, to fulfil their 
appointed destiny. This is as it should be. And the 
arrangement is compatible with man's social and moral 
nature. A family without a home, seems like a forlorn 
and weary pilgrim without kindred, a place of abode, 
or a country that he can call his own. Every person 
should do his best to own a home. The first money 
he can spare, ought to be invested in a dwelling, where 
his family can live permanently. Viewed as a matter 
^ of* economy, a home is important, not only because 

he can ordinarily build cheaper than he can rent; 
but because of the expense caused by a frequent 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 31 

change of residence. A man who in early life, 
builds a home for himself and family, will save some 
thousands of dollars in the course of twenty years, 
besides avoiding the inconvenience and trouble of 
removals. 

Parents should encourage their children to make 
some preparations for a home of their own, years be- 
fore they are of age. If parents in the country would 
encourage their sons to direct their thoughts and en- 
ergies towards securing a home of their own, soon 
after they have become of age, and would render them 
only a little pecuniary aid, at a period, when beginners 
need help most, we should see very different citizens, 
and a far more desirable state of society, both morally 
and religiously. 

In choosing a location for a home, one should have 
a correct understanding of his own requirements. If 
a man is a mechanic, or a clerk, or helper, he will need 
only a garden spot, not larger than he can cultivate 
advantageously and profitably. If he purposes to be 
a farmer and to raise grain, and various kinds of stock, 
he should go where land is comparatively cheap and of 
excellent fertility. Let me suggest the importance of 
not paying a fabulous price for a farm, for agricultural 
purposes, where the soil will not produce crops of any 
kind, in sufficient quantities, to pay one per cent, 
interest on the money invested. If one desires only 
a few roods of earth, it will be of comparatively little 
account, what the character of the soil is. In case the 
land cannot be ploughed for the rocks, it must be 
borne in mind that it is an expensive job to clear even 
a small field of bowlders. 



32 todd's country homes, and 

the salutary influences of home. 

" How dear to our liearts are the scenes of our childhood, 
When fond recollection presents them to view ! 
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild wood. 
And every loved spot, that our infancy knew." 

A home ! A cheerful homo ! A home with beauti- 
ful surroundings ! A delightful and pleasant home ! 
There is music and a rapture in the sound ! A pleas- 
ant, happy home is, to the aspiring and panting soul, 
what nourishing food is to the jaded body, "^here is 
something agreeable to our better nature in having a 
home that we can call our own. It is a form of prop- 
erty that is more than a mere temporal possession. 
The cheering influences of home speak to the heart, 
enlist the sentiments and ennoble the possessor. The 
associations that spring up around it as the birthplace 
of children — as the scene of life's holiest emotions — as 
the sanctuary where the spirit cherishes its purest 
thoughts — are surely of priceless value to all ; and 
whenever their influence is exerted, the moral sensibili- 
ties are improved and exalted. 

Home, that briefest word of our good old Saxon 
tongue — there lies in it the wealth of all language, of 
all affection, of all virtuous joy, of all pure memories, 
of all innocent hopes ; the prattle of the infant, the 
gleeful laugh of childhood, the song of the maiden, the 
cheerful labor, the merry pastime, the sweet repose of 
evening when toil is ended, the united meal, the house- 
hold stories, music, and diversions, the various ages, 
interests, and plans revolving about one center, and 
that center, love. There is no place in this wide world 
like a cheerful home. There is no other place where 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 33 

the affections are so securely entwined; where the 
world can be shut out from our thoughts ; and where 
we can give ourselves up to such pure enjoyment ! 
Home is not merely four square walls adorned with 
gilded pictures ; but it is where love sheds its light on 
all the dear ones who gather round the sweet home 
fireside, where we can worship God, with none to 
molest or make us afraid. Have you such a home ? 
If you have, love that place above all others. Cherish 
the dear ones you meet there from day to day. Scat- 
ter sunbeams ; dispense kind words to the sorrowing ; 
and thus strive to make home attractive. If young 
ladies love flirtation, gay attire, and the reward of a 
coquette, more than a happy home, they can pay their 
money and take their choice. 

." 0, girls, get a home of your own ! 
It sure is an excellent plan ! 
And get, with your home, a nice pretty man ; 
And never keep house all alone." 

It is often that we find more true enjoyment in the 
home of the poor, than in the marble mansions of the 
rich. It has been said that an honest man is the noblest 
work of God. Grant it. Yet, a cheerful home, with 
beautiful surroundings, where love inspires the heart of 
the inmates, is a little heaven below. There is nothing 
more congenial to our natures than the hallowed influ- 
ences of home. Aside from the transcendent pleasures 
and enjoyments that a home affords, in youth and mid- 
dle age, every one should strive, in early life, to choose 
a place of abode that hie will love, and be satisfied with, 
until life's latest end. Every industrious young man 
who will exercise proper economy in his expenses, may 



34 TODD^S COUNTRY HOMES, AND 

dress respectably, and save enough funds, in a few 
years, to purchase a small home. Or, he can fritter 
away his hard-earned dollars, for gewgaws, jews-harps, 
and unsatisfying pleasures, and end his career like a 
town pauper. 

LOCATION OF FARM BUILDINGS. 

The first and most important consideration connected 
with the erection of farm buildings of any description, 
is the location. If the surface of the land is one con- 
tinuous plain, there will be very little choice in the lo- 
cality for dwelling-house, grain-barn, hennery, piggery 
or any other buildings. But when the surface is hilly 
or gently undulating, location is everything. There 
are many considerations of a pecuniary character which 
should be allowed to have their proper influence when 
one is making choice of a location for his buildings. 
If the location be on the slope of a lake, or the bank 
of a river, or if nothing but a bubbling brook, the 
source of which is a mountain spring, meanders through 
the forests or green fields, the location of buildings 
should be chosen with reference to the water, both for 
considerations of beauty in laying out the grounds, and 
utility and convenience incident to the eminent advan- 
tages of a stream of water. If practicably not too 
inconvenient, let the location for farm-buildings be 
chosen where water may be conveyed in tubes to points 
round about the buildings, for stock and other purposes. 

Another point of transcendent importance is, choos- 
ing a location near the center of the farm. The usual 
custom is to squat every building as near the borders of 
the highway as the law will allov/ them to be placed, 
without any regard whatever, to convenience of access 



HOW TO SAVE MONET. 



35 



to distant fields. The custom of locating farm-build- 
ings along the highway, has become so prevalent all over 
the country, that very few people have sufficient pluck 
to strike out a beautiful serpentine drive to the center 
of their land and choose a location for buildings. 










HON. HORACE GREELEY S RESIDENCE. 



Hon. Horace Greeley has furnished one of the most 
striking and illustrious examples on this subject. A 
narrow carriage-way leads from the main road along 
the hill-side, through the wild old woods, more than half 
a mile, among growing timber, where the dwelling- 
house is surrounded on every side by old and towering 
denizens of the forest. During the growing season, 
the music of the waving trees, and the delightful shade 
render such a location doubly attractive; and in win- 



36 todd's country homes, and 

ter, when chilling winds and pelting storms sweep fu- 
riously by, the surrounding trees break the force of the 
cold winds; and thus render a home and its surround- 
ings far more comfortable and pleasant, than if the 
dwelling were standing in a bleak locality. 

The accompanying illustration of Mr. Greeley's ru- 
ral residence on the Harlem Railroad, about one hour's 
ride from New York City, was originally engraved for 
the '^Hearth and Home,'' in which there is a more full 
account given of his farming operations, than I can re- 
cord in this work. When I was last at Mr. Greeley's 
place, this residence was not occupied, on account of 
the feminine delusion, that the trees round about the 
dwelling, rendered the place damp and unhealthy. 
Mr. Greeley thought that by cutting away a few of the 
large trees, the difficulty would be obviated. And he 
thought right. When furious winds are perpetually 
sweeping away the entire atmosphere around a dwell- 
ing, and bringing forward a fresh supply of air, it is a 
delusion to think that a house in the woods can be 
damp and unhealthy. 

SITE FOR SUMMER RESIDENCE. 

Mr. J. Wilkinson, a writer on landscape gardening, 
says: — A site for a summer residence only, is most de- 
sirable, on the summit of a hill in order to secure the 
luxury of the fanning breezes from every point; while 
for a permanent residence, both the dwelling and sta- 
bling should, if practicable, be so located as to be 
somewhat protected from the most unpleasant winds. 
Where all the other characteristics, other than protec- 
tion from the chilling blast, are afforded in a site, the 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 37 

defect can be supplied in a few years by planting a dense 
belt of evergreens. The introduction, however, of this 
artificial protection, should be performed by one skilled 
in the art of landscaping, that the least number of 
trees sufficient to produce the effect may be used ; that 
the varieties and the form of heads most desirable for 
the purpose ; and that such as will best withstand ex- 
posed situations, may be selected. 

If it is desirable to secure water views, narrow open- 
ings will suffice, leaving the imagination to supply the 
extent of the surface of the sheet, a portion of which 
is seen. Very deceptive effects can often be produced 
on this principle, in cutting out vistas in woodland, by 
carefully avoiding showing the margins of the sheet, 
or stream exposed to view, and by opening the vistas 
at such points as shall present partial views of the same 
stream, or sheet, as remote from each other as possible, 
by which the stranger is impressed with the idea of a 
great extent of water surface, while in reality it is very 
limited. 

Elevated sites on the margins of navigable streams 
are particularly beautiful and desirable, infinitely more 
so, than those bounded by a water horizon, as in an 
ocean scene. There is no more beautiful feature in a 
landscape than a water-wheel, to secure w^hich, from a 
favorable point of view, minor features may be sacri- 
ficed. Too enlarged views is a common error with 
those who are inexperienced in the selection of the 
rural home. Hence an " elephant " is purchased, which 
can neither be kept with pleasure, nor disposed of at 
cost. Many embark in the purchase of a country resi- 
dence with the erroneous idea, that the means necessary 



38 todd's country homes, and 

to secure a title of the premises, erect the necessary 
buildings, and supply the various features of decora- 
tion that their limited experience suggests as constitut- 
ing the acme of perfection, is all that will be required. 
But ignorance of what will be the cost of what I have 
enumerated, and no allowance for the perpetual cost 
of their maintenance, often leads the purchaser to un- 
dertake much more than he has the means to accom- 
plish. Hence, not unfrequently, conspicuous features of 
decoration are commenced, and of necessity are indefi- 
nitely abandoned, and thus remain, perhaps for years. 

These suggestions, it is hoped, will deter many young 
and ambitious men from commencing a project which 
they have not the means to complete. The cost should 
be carefully counted, when means are limited. Then, 
if the plan be spread out on paper, as it always should 
be, a beginner may accomplish something every year, 
as his limited means may accumulate. The man who 
is in debt for his land, who has a place for every dol- 
lar as soon as the money is earned, may often accom- 
plish much towards embellishing his home, improving 
his grounds, and rendering the surroundings j)leasant 
and attractive, by simply appropriating his unoccupied 
days in performing little jobs that he has not money to 
pay some one else for doing. Locations and plans 
should be studied, and improved, if possible, for several 
months before ground is broken for the foundation of 
any building. Works on rural architecture should be 
perused; and the ideas of experienced landscape en- 
gineers should be made familiar. 

It appears odd to live a hundred rods from the 
beaten track of the highway; because, a prevailing 



HOW TO SAVE MONET. 39 

custom, which stands directly in the face and eyes of 
convenience, prompts people to locate their dwelling- 
l\oiises where every itinerant interloper that travels 
the streets, by raising on tip-toe, may peep into the 
parlor or bed-room windows. People often think it is 
inconvenient " to live away off in the fields ; " because,, 
when they go to church, to mill, to post-office, or any- 
where else, they must travel so far before they reach 
the highway. 

Now we will suppose, for example, that it is a hun- 
dred rods from the further side of a farm to the high- 
way ; which will be attended with the most convenience 
and economy, to locate the buildings near the center 
of the farm, and thus save an untold amount of carting 
manure to the field, and products of the farm to the 
barn, and spend a few minutes longer in riding from 
the house to the highway, or, to cart a large propor- 
tion of heavy materials one hundred rods ? 

There is no need of going into details on this point. 
The simple suggestion will be sufficient to induce a 
thinking farmer to put into practice what has been al- 
luded to. I have seen farms half a mile or more long, 
of a triangular form, with all the buildings on one 
corner. It is easy to calculate how much more time is 
consumed, and how much more team labor is required 
to perform the necessary carting on those farms, than 
if the buildings were located near the middle of the 
entire tract. In numerous instances, dwelling-house, 
barn, and all other buildings, are located so unsatisfac- 
torily, that it would pay well to have everything moved 
to a more convenient and desirable location. Farmers, 
as a general rule, have too little regard for location. 



40 todd's country homes, and 

where shall we locate? 

Then stick close to the farm, stick close my boy! 
And EDUCATE yourself to iioe ! 
Do NOT give up the farmer's joy, 
For all the city's death and woe! 

Elmee. 

Where shall I go to find a home? Untold numbers 
of young men, both single and married, are asking this 
question, every day of their lives, with growing solici- 
tude. To one and all, let me be heard from Maine to Cal- 
ifornia, wherever you go, do not go to a city. If you 
are in the country, remain there. And, if all your asso- 
ciations and interests are in the pent up city, flee to the 
country, just as soon as you can raise funds enough to 
get where you can purchase a piece of land. If you are 
not pleased with the unimproved land in New Jersey 
and other localities round about New York City, go to 
work in sober earnest, and save money enough to j^ay 
your fare to the great West, or the North-west ; and 
there buy 160 acres of government land. Or if you 
have not the money to purchase, squat on it; get an ax 
and mattock; put up a log cabin for your habitation; 
and raise a little corn and potatoes. Be contented and 
keep your conscience clear, and live like a freeman, 
your own master, with no one to give you orders, and 
without dependence on any body. Do that, and you 
will be honored, respected, influential and rich. But 
go to the city and accept a clerkship and you sink at 
once all independence. A man may give you a place 
to-day, and kick you out to-morrow. But if you own 
an acre of land, it is your kingdom ; and your cabin is 
your castle. You are a sovereign ; and you will feel it in 
every throbbing of your pulse ; and every day of life will 
assure me of your thanks for having thus advised you. 



HOW TO SAVE MONET. 41 

There is nothing like a piece of land, with the cheer- 
ing prospects of a happy and respectable home to de- 
velop an ambitious boy or man into a good citizen. 
Nothing will subdue that roving propensity which leads 
a man all over the world, like a piece of good land, a 
comfortable house, and 

"A little wife well willed." 

Economize your time, and save your money to pur- 
chase a home. Don't fritter away your dimes for candy 
and glittering gewgaws which can be of no earthly 
benefit, in any way. Tear away from your mother's 
apron strings ; and don't squat down between a rock 
and a stump, just under the eaves of father's back door. 
Get away from the paternal homestead. Go where peo- 
ple will see and appreciate your virtuous manhood. 
When a man remains where he was reared, his neigh- 
bors, and especially his relatives, will see nothing in 
him but the little tricks of boyhood, and the mistakes 
of early manhood. Locate among strangers. Relatives 
will respect a friend tenfold more, if he lives a hun- 
dred or a thousand miles away, than if his possessions 
were near by. Go where land is cheap ; and where the 
soil is fertile. Don't purchase the first goose-pasture 
that some "sharper" may offer for an excellent garden 
spot. Hire out for a few months, if you have but little 
money; and take time to look around. A man may 
frequently make more money by looking around, for a 
few months, than he can to purchase at once. 

FLEE TO THE COUNTRY. 

But in the country's healthy sphere, 
The FARM so joyous, glad and bright,^ 
Aha ! my boy ! yon'U find that here. 
Temptation leads you not from right ! 



^ 



42 todd's country homes, and 

Young men, boys, girls and middle-aged men, if you 
have ever cherished the thought of leaving the coun- 
try, for a livelihood in the city, as you value your own 
welfare and happiness, abandon the idea at once. 
There is no room for you in the city. There are no 
positions for you. There are too many in the cities 
already. The country needs your services. You can 
have no encouragement to rise in the scale of being, 
if you go to the city. City advantages are, at present, 
swallowed up in its disadvantages. The crowded state 
of the city; the increase of population; the demand 
for houses; the inadequate supply; the inordinate and 
extortionate charges of the landlords; the rapacity of 
every description of tradesmen and shop-keeper; the 
inflated prices of property; the great cost of living; 
the difficulty of convenient transportation within the 
city limits, between either extremities; the over- 
crowded, unhealthy, dirty, cheerless abodes, are all 
tending to drive people with limited means into the 
country. 

If you desire to change your country life for a life 
in the city, think well before you act. The road before 
you is not so smooth and pleasant as it looks. Some 
seek clerkships in public offices. To those, I say, in 
words of earnest warning, never surrender the com- 
forts of your home in the country, and the certain inde- 
pendence of your vocation, for the petty salary you 
can earn in an official station. The man who is depen- 
dent on official salary for support, becomes the slave 
of party. He holds his place by an uncertain tenure. 
He has hardly a chance for advancement. He dwarfs 
his intellect; too often belittles his manhood; and at 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 43 

length becomes the most dependent of call dependents; 
and when, hi the course of time, changes come, he finds 
himself without occupation and without means. There 
are more than 10,000 boys and young men in New 
York City, barely existing in the low capacity of 
helpers; and hoping, that at some future period, for- 
tune will smile on their pathway of life. But, they 
ought to remember, that there is only a certain amount 
of wealth in the city; and only a limited number can 
be wealthy. The large proportion must always be 
poor, unless they flee to the country. 

How I wish some good angel would guide my pen, 
while I portray the dark side and the wonderful dis- 
advantages of city life! How many thousands can tell 
the tale of doleful poverty! How many, a step higher 
on the scale, can utter bitter complaints of hard work 
and scant pay! Higher yet, there comes a class of 
shop-keepers, faithful toilers, whose daily gains barely 
pay the expenses of a livelihood; and to whom the oft- 
recurring face of the landlord is like an apparition of 
terror. But between these and the rich classes, who 
sit down to costly suppers and dress in purple and fine 
linen, there are found thousands of families of the en- 
ergetic business or professional men of the city, who, 
apparently, in comfortable circumstances, are subjected 
to the payment of extravagant prices for board, or 
house rent, and long for some effectual and permanent 
relief. They sigh for a home in the country. Let me 
say to such anxious souls, turn all your available efiects 
into money, and hie away to the country, where you 
can get a home of your own; live independently; and 
have food that is fit to eat; and air that is not charged 



/ 



44 todd's country homes, and 

with pestilential effluvia. If you have a talent for 
trade and no taste for your country life, then take your 
chances amid the great struggling multitude. But 
recollect, that in mercantile and manufacturing pur- 
suits, where one man succeeds, many fail. The great 
ocean of trade and commerce is filled with wrecks. A 
few only of those who embark upon it, reach the haven 
where they desire to be; and to the innumerable hosts 
who sink in its turbulent waters, but little aid is ten- 
dered, and but little sympathy extended. You who 
from your country home, look upon this great mercan- 
tile ocean, see none of the many who have been en- 
gulfed within it. Rejoice that you are free from the 
perils to which they were exposed. None who own 
and till the soil, fail to win, if they labor industriously 
to achieve an independent livelihood and an honorable 
success. The crops may sometimes fail; the land may 
be parched; blight and disease may attack your cattle 
and your flocks; but, for one season of misfortune, 
there will be many of abundance and prosperity. The 
providence of God may send you sometimes temporary 
disaster; but you will not be utterly ruined, as the 
merchant can be, by the folly or the treachery of swin- 
dlers. Envy not the smartly-dressed clerk, nor even his 
rich employer, surrounded by the splendors of city life. 
The brightness of the outside wrappings is not always 
a guarantee tliat there are cheerfulness and peace of 
mind within. Many of these men may more justly 
env}'- you your sound sleep of nights, of which their 
over-anxious and overwrought brains so frequently de- 
fraud them. 

Large cities are a dreadful abode for young men and 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 45 

boys. Every influence tends to demoralization. Temp- 
tations to every species of corruption, immorality, 
vice and crime, beset young men and boys, wherever 
they go. Most employers — if they have any of the 
religion of the Bible — leave it at home, when they go 
to their business. Clerks and helpers, after their daily 
task is done, are turned into the streets, to run the 
gauntlet among the vilest wretches that walk the foot- 
stool. There are no restraining and constraining influ- 
ences to help boys and young men resist besetments to 
vice and crime. Go where they will, there is some al- 
lurement to gambling, immorality, vice, revelry, dissi- 
pation, rum, wretchedness and ultimate ruin. Do not 
flatter yourselves that you can withstand any tempta- 
tion that may overtake you. Untold numbers of smarter 
men and boys than you, have cherished the same delu- 
sion; and before they were aware of it, they found 
that their feet had slipped. Parents in the country, 
let me entreat you, by the love you bear to your chil- 
dren, persuade them to keep away from the city. The 
professions are largely overstocked. There are scores 
of applicants for every subordinate position. Only a 
few can rise. The large proportion must fill subordi- 
nate positions. Amid the rivalry and strife to rise, 
aspirants must dwell in an atmosphere of envy and 
the most contemptible jealousy. But, in the country, 
and on the farm, these pernicious influences are un- 
known. The quiet, simple, independent life of a suc- 
cessful farmer is highly favorable to the development 
of pure morals and sturdy integrity, as well as to hap- 
piness and contentment, which are better than the most 
powerful drugs for insuring health and longevity. 



46 TODD'S COUNTRY HOMES. 

PLOTTING THE FARM AND LAYING OUT THE FIELDS. 

After a title to a farm has been secured and the site 
for the buildings has been selected, it will be well to 
draw a plot of the grounds on a large sheet of drawing- 
paper, which may be inclosed in a wooden frame ; or 
the plot may be delineated on a large board, neatly 
planed. Let the deed of a farm be taken to a good 
surveyor, who has the proper instruments, and he will 
be able to delineate the shape of any farm, with the 
different distances of a proper proportion to each other, 
with the outside lines running at the same angle in the 
plan, that they do on the farm. The larger the plan 
is, the better it will be. The next step will be, to lay 
out the farm into fields of the most convenient shape 
and size. If the farm is a large one, the fields may be 
proportionately large. But if the farm is small, and the 
proprietor designs to keep a limited number of cattle, 
or animals of any kind, the fields must be small. It 
should always be the aim, in dividing a farm into fields 
by fences, to have the boundaries of each field run 
about at right angles. But when a farm is cut up with 
highways, railroads, and deep gullies, which do not run 
parallel with the outside boundaries, the young farmer 
must exercise a little judgment and skill in giving them 
a shape that will be most convenient of access from the 
barn. If the buildings are so located that the fields 
must necessarily be all on one side of a lane, leading 
to the barn, it would be more convenient to have the 
fields eighty or one hundred rods long, and of a narrow 
width, and let them extend from the farther boundary 
of the farm to the lane, than to have the fields square, 



LAYING OUT THE FARM. 47 

and be obliged to cross one or two fields in order to 
reach a distant field. Sometimes it seems desirable to 
make the fields of an irregular shape in order to allow 
animals in each field to have access to water. But it 
is not always advisable to give a field an irregular 
shape for the sake of a stream of water, when it can be 
brought to that field for small expense. It is alw^ays 
desirable to have the fields of a uniform size, especially 
when one adopts, in raising crops, a rotation system. 

The first settlers of our country were accustomed to 
locate their buildings almost anywhere ; and to clear and 
cultivate the best and dryest land first; and to fence 
around those parts of the farm which w^ere too wxt to 
plow; and to keep them for pasture only. The result 
was, that the fields of many farms were as irregular in 
shape as a shapeless rock. When the location is such 
that wet places can be drained, the fences should be 
made in the desired places, and all wet places and cor- 
ners made dry by ditching. Having decided upon the 
form and size of each field, let marks be delineated in 
the plan to represent the fences. Lot each field be 
designated in the plan by some name, or title, or by 
some tree, or rock, or pool; or they may be designated 
as the fields A, B, C, &c. This plan, or map, should 
be placed w^here every one connected with the fiirm, can 
see it often, and understand the location of every field, 
and woods, and yard, and building, from the map. 
Now, if there are little streams running across the farm, 
let them be represented by dotted lines, running at 
about the same angle in the map that they do on the 
farm. When imderdrains are made in any field, dotted 
lines should be made on the map to represent them. 



48 todd's country homes. 

The distances should be accurately measured in the 
field, and the number of rods from a given corner where 
a certain ditch crosses the boundary of such a field, and 
how many rods it runs in a given direction, and how 
many rods from a certain corner it crosses the fence 
towards the outlet, should be indicated on the map. 
Should there be branches in a main ditch, let the dis- 
tance from a given side of the field be accurately meas- 
ured, in rods or feet, and noted down with the dotted 
lines on the map. If the ditches are filled with tile, 
stone, or wood, in any form, let it be noted on the map, 
and also the time when the ditches were made. 

The advantage to be derived from knowing exactly, 
to one foot or less, where an underdrain is located, may 
often be of more or less pecuniary profit, in case a cer- 
tain ditch should fail to discharge the surplus water, 
where it is located, in consequence of some little ob- 
struction, which could be readily found if the exact 
location of the drain were known. 

Aside from the beauty of a residence among the trees 
of the woods, there is a wonderful 

ECONOMY IN THE GROWING TREES 

That stand round about dwelling-houses and out-build- 
ins-s, in the protection afforded to fruit-trees and winter 
grain. The farmers of our entire country have made 
a most lamentable mistake in removing all the old for- 
est-trees that stood on that side of the farm, whence 
came the prevailing winds in winter. Every young 
man, and old one, too, who contemplates choosing a 
location for farm -buildings, ought to spare the trees 
round the dwellings and out-buildings. Plant your 



BENEFIT OF TREES. 49 

buildings, if the land be level, near the center of your 
fiirm, and let a dense belt of trees, a few rods wide, 
encircle them. Then, let another belt of timber, a 
few rods in width, continue to grow round about the 
outside of the entire farm. More grain, grass, fruit, or 
any other product of the land, can be grown on seventy- 
five acres, with twenty-five covered with heavy forest- 
trees, than can be produced on one hundred acres de- 
nuded of trees and exposed to the sweeping winds of 
the winter months. It is admitted by many of the 
best tillers of the soil in the country, that trees are 
directly beneficial in protecting the soil from deteriora- 
tion, from the action of ice and snow and sweeping 
winds, which destroy or bear away the most fertile por- 
tion of the land. And it has been observed in those 
countries which are being rapidly denudated that, with 
the destruction of trees, droughts and sudden disas- 
trous floods increase. The rapidity with which our ex- 
tensive forests are being converted into farms, and the 
change of woody wildernesses into cities, towns, and 
villages, while giving evidence of the spirit of progress, 
contains an element of evil which may afford grounds 
of alarm. It is a fact not to be gainsayed that forests 
do afford the amplest protection to fruit-trees from the 
disastrous effects of frosts and violent wintry storms. 
A great many farmers who cultivate winter wheat and 
various kinds of fruit, have noticed the deterioration 
of their crops, when the protecting shelter of a body 
of trees has been removed from the vicinity. When 
the time arrives that our country shall be completely 
denudated, our fruit will very materially deteriorate 
both in quality and quantity. 

4 



50 todd's country homes. 

An English writer says, "That the stripping of a 
country of its forests is most injurious to its prosperity; 
and may, under certain circumstances, prove absolutely 
ftital ; may, to speak broadly, change it into a useless 
desert, to be revived, if at all, only by costly works for 
artificial irrigation. It is nearly certain that the deso- 
lation of Numidia, once a granary, now a desert, is due 
to the wilful destruction of the trees by the barbarians ;> 
that the Babylonian plain has been desolated by the 
same cause ; and that the Punjab was rapidly becoming 
a desert. The trees had been cut by successive devas- 
tators, Runjeet Singh himself being among the worst, 
until the kingdom was as bare as a hand, and Lord 
Lawrence was compelled to undertake planting as a 
political duty. The desolation of Judea once so 
thoroughly cultivated, is in all probability due to the 
same cause. The French begin to attribute the in- 
creasing sterility of their southern provinces to the 
same cause, which is felt, though in a less degree, in 
Lombardy ; and above all, in Spain, where rapid and 
systematic felling is destroying all chance of a future 
for agriculture. Let me urge every person who owns a 
home to spare his forests and ornamental trees." 

BEGINNING TO BUILD A HOUSE. 

" When we do mean to build a domicile, 
We first survey the plot, then draw the model ; 
And when we see the figure of the house. 
We then compute the cost of the erection, 
Wliich, if we find out weighs ability, 
What do we then, but draw again the model." 

Shakespeare. 

A dwelling-house, in some respects, resembles the 
character of the builder. It is a job for life. Gross 



BEGINNING TO BUILD. 51 

mistakes in its construction cannot easily be corrected. 
It has repeatedly been stated that a person needs to 
lead one life, in order to understand how to meet all 
life's difficulties with proper intelligence and manly for- 
titude. So with building a dwelling-house ; a person 
should possess a correct understanding of all the re- 
quirements of the builder, in order to secure the ac- 
complishment of a satisfactory job. An ambitious 
young man desires to have every part of his dwelling 
as nearly of the requisite dimensions as may be. For 
this reason, a vast deal of planning and forethought 
will be essential before operations are commenced. 

The first consideration of importance, is to deter- 
mine how many rooms will be desirable, and how large 
each one may be made. Then, another important point 
•will be to arrange the rooms in the most economical 
and satisfactory manner. These things will require 
the combined acumen and practical wisdom of practical 
builders and females who are competent to manage all 
the household affairs, from the drudgery of the kitchen 
to the dusting of the parlor furniture. Many intelli- 
gent housekeepers understand what a family really will 
require better than many professional architects. And 
yet, in the details, females are liable to make mistakes, 
by not really understanding what would be the final re- 
sult, if this plan were adopted, or that item neglected. 

When one has access to another house which is 
nearly of the desired plan, it will be an easy task, by 
conferring with an intelligent builder, to plan such 
alterations and make such improvements as may be 
desired. It is always well to submit plans to a prac- 
tical builder, as lie will be able to tell at a glance 



62 todd's country homes. 

whether the workmen will be likely to encounter any 
difficulties in the details of the job. If this be not 
done, we may have another instance of the fast female 
who planned her dwelling and employed workmen to 
complete it, forgetting the stairs, until the house was 
finished. Then, proper allowance must be made for 
the right thickness of the outside walls and partitions. 
The height of rooms is another important considera- 
tion. The upper rooms of many a cozy dwelling-house 
have been rendered very unpleasant by being made 
too low. One or two feet in the height of a house, is 
really a small consideration, w^hen compared with the 
aggregate expense of the entire edifice. It is an ex- 
cellent practice to make high rooms, between joints. 
But low rooms are like a disfiguring blotch on one's fair 
character, which cannot be removed, except with great" 
difficulty. An imaginary dwelling should be set up 
before the mind, and every room, door, and window 
should be viewed with the perception of a master 
builder, as the same things will appear after the edifice 
is completed. If dwelling-houses were planned in the 
foregoing manner, we should not meet with so many 
egregious mistakes in an attempt to produce a dwell- 
ing possessing the desirable requisites of good taste in 
architectural proportions, and a convenient disposition 
of the various apartments and completeness of work- 
manship. 

PRELIMINARIES FOR BUILDING. 

The man who builds a city wants access to a large 
revenue. So a person who erects only a cozy cottage, 
must have money. If money is so scarce, that every 
dollar must be earned, dime by dime, at hard-fisted in- 



PRELIMINARIES FOR BUILDING. 53 

dustry, or by literary drudgery, it is eminently import- 
ant to devise the most economical means for making 
every dollar count. But, before making a choice of 
any plan, let me suggest the eminent importance of 
not erecting a dwelling that will not be in keeping 
with one's available means. If a person has a small 
piece of land, and but a few hundred dollars to invest 
in a house, let him beware of the common error of erect- 
ing a dwelling that will cost more than the entire farm 
would sell for, at a forced sale. Because some proud 
or rich neighbor lives in a palatial mansion, do not act 
the stupid part of launching into debt for a costly villa, 
or mansion, for the sake of keeping up appearances, by 
building a large dwelling that your family do not w^ant. 
Put your money where it will "jink" more than in a 
costly house. The man who has limited means and 
who invests $4,000 in the erection of a house, that is 
really beyond his means, when a neat cottage costing 
f 2,000 M^ould be more in keeping with his circum- 
stances, wrongs himself and his family, and sets a per- 
nicious example to those around him. A large and ex- 
pensive dwelling is like a great debt on the hands of 
the owner. What a perpetual draft there will be on 
his little revenue, when one has erected a house beyond 
his means, as there will be a perpetual draft in the loss 
of interest on the redundant money invested. The loss 
on this score will be equivalent to twice the amount of 
the annual legal interest, as we can compute the loss 
of the interest money on the sum invested, and the in- 
terest on the amount which must actually be paid. 
Then, there is the natural deterioration, which is a loss; 
the unnecessary expense of keeping a dwelling that 



54 todd's country homes. 

one did not want, in repairs ; furnishing rooms that the 
family did not need; and the constant taxation on 
property that is a serious disadvantage to any person. 
Save your money by not building a dwelling too ex- 
pensive for your means. 

Let me repeat the thought, that when a person is 
about to erect a dwelling-house, he should first ascer- 
tain what he wants; and then understand the expense 
of erecting the building. If one really understands 
what he or she wants, there will be little dijB&culty in 
perfecting the plan. It is an excellent rule to compare 
the cost with the means, before deciding on the plan. 
It is much better to build a small house within means, 
than to have a large, fine house, hard to keep in order, 
and encumbering the owner with a heavy and annoy- 
ing debt. A great error with many is an attempt to 
build finely, when they themselves and every one else 
Itnows that the proprietor could not ajQPord it. Attend to 
real wants and substantial conveniences, and avoid the 
gratification of imaginary wants. Multitudes of young 
men, who had only limited means, have invested hun- 
dreds of dollars in a costly and spacious, palatial man- 
sion, when they had no earthly use for it. Large parlors 
cost a great many dollars; and if they are not furnished, 
they will be an intolerable annoyance to the gentle 
housewife. 

The wisest man that ever existed, in his advice to 
tillers of the soil says : " Prepare thy work without ; 
and make it fit for thee in the field; and afterwards, 
build thy house." And he might have added, with 
eminent propriety, that instead of investing a large 
amount in a costly dwelling, build a cozy little cottage ; 



A CONVENIENT KITCHEN. 55 

and thus save enough funds to erect a nice poultry- 
house, stable and piggery. 

THE LABORER'S KITCHEN. 
" Here, no state chambers, in long line unfold, 
Bright with broad mirrors, rough with fretted gold ; 
Yet, modest ornament with use combined. 
Attracts the eye, to exercise the mind." 

Jacques. 

If there be any one portion of the dwellings of the 
manual laboring population, which should be rendered 
comfortable, convenient and attractive, it is the kitchen; 
because, in this room the family will live. A frugal 
meal tastes better in the kitchen, than in an uncheer- 
ful dining-room. Most people feel more in an element 
that is congenial to a good nature, when they are in 
the kitchen, than when encircled by the restraints and 
constraints of a parlor, that the fastidious housewife 
deems too nice to be occupied. The kitchen is the 
great center of life and comfort. Neighbors will visit 
infinitely better in the kitchen than in a parlor. La- 
boring men and females spend more time in the kitchen 
than in any other apartment of the dwelling-house. 
Therefore, it should be spacious, properly ventilated, 
and everything connected with it should be convenient 
and in its arrangement, plain, neat, and comfortable. A 
kitchen should always be finished with nice wainscoting. 

There is no place in cold and rainy weather like a 
spacious kitchen for comfort and convenience. When 
old Boreas tunes his February harp-strings to concert 
pitch, and wintry storms wreck the sky, and every- 
thing is frozen up tight, the kitchen is the most desir- 
able apartment in the dwelling, because there is heat 
enough to keep the entire family warm. People who 



56 todd's country homes. 

make a little seven-by-nine kitchen, fall into an egre- 
gious error. The first house the writer ever erected, 
had a small kitchen, which was spacious enough, it is 
true, for wife, myself and a kitten. But, when the 
bending heavens strewed our pathway of life with 
primroses, and a charming duplicate looked up at my 
right hand, and another at my left, and still a third 
twined its angelic arms around papa's neck, wife and 
I both saw that our kitchen was too small. So far as 
space is concerned, most people in the country should 
reverse the order of their parlors and kitchens. The 
rule is, the country through — at least so far as my 
observations have extended — that most farmers erect 
a nice and expensive house, with a costly parlor or 
two, and furnished with beautiful carpets, window- 
shades and other adjuncts of a parlor, and go and look 
into the — almost sacred — apartment about once a 
week ; and in many instances, the parlor is carpeted ; 
the dining-room is a sacred sanctorum ; the kitchen is 
too nice for occupancy, and the family live in the wood- 
house, or in some scavenger's shanty, that has been 
joined on the farther end of all the buildings. Multi- 
tudes of well-to-do people live precisely in the manner 
described. What is the use of having a house, with- 
out making a fair and respectable use of it ? 

Let the kitchen be sufficiently large for a stove and 
a dinner-table, and space wide enough for a person to 
pass around the table at meal-time. There is little 
danger of making a kitchen too large. The whole coun- 
try is full of houses with kitchens intolerably small. 

The arrangement of the kitchen should be such, that 
one can go out of doors, down cellar, up stairs, and in 



A CONVENIENT KITCUEN. 67 

the pantry from the kitchen. Always plan your 
kitchen first. Then make every other room in the 
house conform to the arrangements of the kitchen. 
If practicable, let the kitchen and dining-room be so 
arranged that they may be made, when necessary, as 
one room. The stairway, instead of having a cold out- 
door, should be central, and should receive the surplus 
heat, to temper the atmosphere of the upper rooms. 

The old style of building, with a hall separating the 
principal rooms of the house, above and below, is as 
well contrived to make a cold house as anything can 
be. It makes one shudder to think of going into this 
open hall, or into the principal rooms opening into it. 
They are not much used now — the family room beina: 
in the rear, or in a wing, entered from without by a 
side door. The whole front has a dark, uninviting 
look in the evening ; and it is not an economical way 
to build a dwelling-house. 

The kitchen may be considered the great center -of 
domestic operations. The frugal housewife must neces- 
sarily spend more of her time in the kitchen than in 
any other apartment of the dwelling. When the fire 
has been started and certain articles of food are cook- 
ing, she needs to have the sleeping and toilet-room as 
near the kitchen as it can consistently be located, so 
that she may step in for a few moments, and still be 
where she can supervise the operations of the kitchen. 
If her toilet and sleeping-room be up stairs, or beyond 
another apartment, the practice will be adopted of 
combing and dressing the hair in the kitchen, which 
neat housekeepers never will allow. Besides this, the 
main sleeping-room which is to be occupied by the 



58 todd's country homes. 

head of the family, should open in the kitchen, or so 
near the kitchen as to be convenient of access in case 
of .sickness. Then, in cold weather, the sleeping-room 
may be warmed, little or much, by the fire in the din- 
ing-room, or the fire of the kitchen. Besides this, the 
dining-room or the living-room should be contiguous to 
the parlor, without a broad hall between them; and the 
parlor and living-room should be so conveniently ar- 
ranged, that guests maybe introduced into either room 
from the front door, without passing through one of 
the other rooms. As the mistress of the kitchen must 
necessarily go frequently into the cellar, from the 
kitchen, to carry articles of food, and to return the 
same to the kitchen, it would be a very unsatisfactory 
arrangement to have the cellar door at the farther side 
of a room that joins the kitchen. Economical house- 
keepers often experience the inconveniences of such an 
arrangement of rooms. In many dwellings, the pantry 
cannot be reached from the kitchen without passing 
through some other room, which every intelligent house- 
keeper will acknowledge is an unsatisfactory arrange- 
ment. There should be also a back stairway, where 
those in the kitchen may reach the upper story, without 
passing through other rooms, and thence up the lobby 
or parlor stairs. 

THE GROUND-PLAN. 

The ground-plan. Figure 1, page 62, will exhibit, at a 
glance, the entire arrangement of all the apartments, 
doors, windows, and stairs. It will be perceived that 
on entering the front door, into the lobby, E, a door 
opens into the parlor, and one also into the living-room, 
D. This is an excellent arrangement. Then, if a per- 



GKOUND PLAN. 



59 



son were to call at the kitchen door, which opens on 
the side veranda, he can be welcomed, either into the 
living-room, from the same veranda, or into the kitchen. 
Every ambitious housekeeper will be pleased with such 
a convenience in the plan of a house. Now, While the 
stranger or friend may be either in the living-room or 
parlor, one can go from the kitchen to any room in the 
house, except the library, without passing through 
either of the rooms, where callers or guests may be 
waiting. Such an arrangement will be in perfect accor- 
dance with the wishes 
of every female who 
must be equipped for 
the wash-tub one hour, 
and the next hour be 
performing the duties 
of a chambermaid. The 
sleeping-room, C, should 
open into the kitchen 
and the parlor ; and, if 
desirable, a door may 
be made to open into 
the living-room. The 
Fig. 1. living-room and parlor 

are joined in a very satisfactory manner. From the 
kitchen, one can go up stairs, and down cellar, out of 
the kitchen, beneath the stairs. These are very rare 
conveniences. I represents a small clothes-room open- 
ing into the bed-room. K shows where a china closet 
may be made, with door opening into the kitchen, and 
near the dining-room. In case such a closet is not de- 
sired, the space may be employed as a closet for clothes. 




60 todd's country homes. 

In the recess, P, at the end of the pantry, there may 
be a sink and a cistern-pmnp. Or the sink and pump 
may be placed at some oth«r part of the kitchen, and 
an outside door be placed where a window is indicated. 
If it were desirable, a veranda might be made on the 
other side of the wing ; or a veranda may be provided 
for both sides. In case a well is to be dug, let it be 
sunk close to the end of the veranda, so that by one 
step down, one may come to the " old oaken bucket 
that hangs in the well," or to the pump. 

A door is indicated to open from the kitchen into a 
wood-house. In case there should be no apartment on 
that end of the wing, a window might be made where 
the door is indicated ; and the one in the recess may 
be dispensed with. It will be perceived, that the 
library. A, may be warmed satisfactorily by the fire in 
the living-room ; and, if desirable, the library may be 
occupied as a small bed-room for one person. 

Now, in case this plan were thought to be too large 
on the ground, it would not be difficult to reduce the 
size of every room, except those in the wing, and still 
have rooms quite as large, or even larger, than the 
rooms of a great proportion of the dwellings in small 
villages and in the country. But the actual expense 
between the size here indicated, and a similar edifice, 
four feet shorter and two to four feet narrower, would 
not exceed forty or fifty dollars. And no ambitious 
family in possession of such a convenient dwelling of 
the dimensions indicated, would be willing to have 
the size of the rooms reduced, for three times the 
amount of the actual expense. Spacious sleeping 
apartments ought always to be provided, whatever 



FACILITIES FOE VENTILATION. 61 

may be the size of other rooms. Contemplate, for a 
moment, the available extent of the sleeping-room in- 
dicated in the plan. By opening the doors, all the 
space and fresh air of the parlor, the living-room, 
kitchen, lobby, library, the second story, and cellar 
can be made to contribute to the requirements of fas- 
tidious sleepers, who never like to inhale air that has 
been in the lungs and mouths of others. It will be 
exceedingly difficult to arrange a system of family 
rooms in a more satisfactory manner than this, in order 
to secure perfect ventilation of the sleeping apartments 
during the hours of repose, when the pure breath of 
heaven is quite as desirable, as at any other time. 
With a window at one end, and a door or two at the 
other, one can ventilate his sleeping apartment so per- 
fectly that the room would always appear as pure and 
sweet as a mountain spring house. The most satisfac- 
tory place for a chimney will be in the corner of the 
sleeping-room, C, where it will be entirely out of the 
way, and where the stove-pipes can enter it from both 
the parlor and dining-room. If the chimney be carried 
straight up to the roof from this point, stove-pipes can 
enter it from the upper rooms also, which will be a 
satisfactory arrangement. 

PLAN OF THE SECOND FLOOK. 

The arrangement or disposition of the rooms on the 
second floor may be varied, somewhat, to suit the con- 
venience of the occupants. The different apartments 
will require but little explanation. The stairs in the 
lobby, as will be perceived, should be made on a circle. 
The landing-place is at the end of the dotted line. 



62 



TODDS COUNXrtY HOMES. 



Beneath the lobby stairs, there can be a small clothes- 
room, which will always be a convenient place for 
overcoats, overshoes, and umbrellas. A clothes-room 

may also be made be- 
tween the rooms A and 
B if it is desirable. A 
narrow hall-way may be 
constructed at the head 
of the back stairs, or the 
stairway may open into 
the room. There can 
be two or three windows 
to light the room A, or 
only two. Then, there 
can be a window in the 
lobby, and another on 
Fig. 2. the front side of D, or 

not. The roof of the veranda is shown in front, a 
few feet shorter than the house. And it can be made 
simply like a lean-to roof, or of the hipped roof style, 
as represented. The roof of the rear part is also repre- 
sented by the parallel lines. 

The foregoing suggestions will be sufficient for ex- 
plaining the plan. The next consideration will be to 
determine whether this arrangement of the pantry and 
outside kitchen door will correspond with desirable con- 
venience of access from the out-buildings. The kitchen 
door and well should be on the side of the wing nearest 
the out-buildings. In case they are not, all that will be 
necessary will be to simply turn the plan upside down, 
from left to right, bringing the pantry, bed-room, stairs, 
lobby, and library all on the other side of the edifice. 




ESTIMATE OF COST. 63 



BILL OF MATERIALS. o 

bquare ft. 

175 joists 2 X 8, 16 ft. long, 3,733 

20 studs, 4 X 4, 16 ft. long, for corners and window studs, 427 

150 studs, 2x4, 16 ft. long, 1,600 
1 cross-sill, 4 X 8, 24 ft. long, to support ends of the lower joists 

at the middle of the house, 64 
33 joist rafters, 2x8, 14 ft. long, the ends to project two feet 

from the plate, 616 

1,300 feet of roof boards, 16 ft. long, 1,300 

1,600 feet of flooring, for lower and upper floor, 1,600 
700 feet of good box-boards, 1 6 ft. long, planed on one side and 

matched, for frieze and ceiling beneath the ends of rafters, 700 

1,500 feet of clap-boards, 1,500 
2,000 feet of plank of different thicknesses, and some inch boards 

for casings, for doors and windows, 2,000 

The thickness is not herewith given, as it is not 
known how the rooms are to be finished. But 2,000 
feet will be more than enough, provided the lumber 
be procured of the most economical width and length. 
It is always best to get all such lumber, if convenient, 
not less than fourteen feet in length. If lumber for 
door-casings be only twelve feet long, it will not work 
economically, as the strips will not make two lengths. 
But, if the pieces be fourteen feet long, they will make 
two lengths without any waste. Then, if the boards 
or planks for most door-casings be either twelve feet 
or sixteen feet long, there wall usually be more waste 
than if the lumber were fourteen feet long. 

CASH COST FOR MATERIALS. 
Including the joists, studs, and roof boards, all of which may be 
of common spruce or hemlock, there are 7,800 square feet, 
which, at $20 per M, will be $156 00 

In some localities the price will be less Ihan these figures. 

Amount carried forward, $156 00 



64 todd's country homes. 

Amount brought forward, $156 00 

1,600 feet of flooring, and 1,500 clapboards, at $30 per M, 93 00 

2,000 feet of clear stuff, at $40 per M, 80 00 

Sill for front veranda, 26 feet long, 3x6, and a plate of the 

same size, 78 feet, at 2 cts. per foot, 1 56 

There will be a sufficient number of joists not used to make 
the frame of the verandas. 
12 panel doors for the lower part of the house, 6 feet 8 inches 

long by 2 feet 8 inches wide, $3 each, 36 00 

5 panel doors for the upper rooms, 6 feet 6 inches long by 2 

feet 6 inches wide, at $2.75 each, 13 75 

It will be quite as well to make batten doors for clothes- 
rooms and closets. 
Sash and glass for 20 windows, say $2 each, 40 00 

Of course this estimate will depend entirely on the locality 
where such materials are sold, and upon the kind of glass and 
the size of the panes, as the larger the panes are, the more 
expensive the windows will be. 
1,204 feet of roofing, including the veranda, at 8 cts. per foot, 96 32 
In this estimate the computation is made for plastic slate 
roofing, which is one of the cheapest and most durable of roof- 
ing materials. Tin will cost more than this estimate, and will 
not be so durable. 
The cost of hinges and fastenings for the doors, will also depend 
on the quality and kind. Good knobs and good hinges may 
be obtained for 75 cts. per door on an average, 12 75 

If weights and pulleys are employed, of course the expense will 
be increased according to the weight of the windows. But, if 
- the latest style of listening be employed, the expense will not 

exceed 75 cts. per window, say 15 00 

300 lbs. of nails, at 5 cts. per lb , 15 00 

100 lbs. of lath nails, at 7 cts. per lb., 7 00 

In computing the laths required, we estimate them to be four feet 
long by one and a half inches wide. Then, if they are put on 
one-fourth of an inch apart, each lath will cover 84 square 
inches, and 1,000 laths will cover 583 square feet. Not 
making any allowance for doors, windows, and base, there are 



Amount carried forward, $566 38 



ESTIMATE OF COST. 65 

Amount brought forward, $566 38 

about 5,120 square feet to be covered with laths, requiring 
8,500 laths. But as doors and windows and base will occupy 
more than the space covered by 1,000 laths, we will compute 
the estimate at 7,000 which, at $3 per 1,000, which is a high 
figure, will be 21 00 

In computing the estimate for the plastering mortar, we will 
make calculations for covering 4,000 square feet, although the 
space, if measured after the windows and doors are finished, 
will not equal these figures. Then we will estimate the mor- 
tar to be three-fourths of an inch thick after it is laid on, 
although mortar is seldom put on as thick as this, which will 
take 108 cubic inches per square foot, or 432,000 cubic inches 
to be covered with mortar. Now, as there are about 2,150 
cubic inches in a bushel, dry measure, by dividing 432,000 
by 2,150, we have a fraction over 200 bushels of mortar re- 
quired, which will be a very large estimate. In some locali- 
ties, the sand, lime, hair, and mixing will cost 30 cts. per 
bushel ; in other places not 20 cts. But we will compute 
the cost at 25 cts. per bushel, which will amount to 50 00 

If sand can be obtained near by, the mortar will not cost $50. 
The lathing will cost more or less, just as the management 
of the builder is economical. If a slow mason at high wages 
be employed to lath, who will nail on only five or six hun- 
dred in a day, the lathing may be made to cost $40 or $50. 
On the contrary, if boys be employed to lath by the bunch, 
or by the thousand, the cost ought not to exceed S2 per 1,000, 14 00 

A faithful and quick lather can nail on two to three thou- 
sand laths in a day. I have employed men who have done 
more than this. 

The plastering is another item depending entirely on the man- 
agement of the builder. There are about 148 square yards; 
and there will be less than this number by actual measure- 
ment. At ten cents per yard the cost will be 14 80 

Masons frequently compute the cost of plastering as high as 
30 cts. per square yard. But if walls are to be papered, it 
is useless to expend unnecessary labor in floating and trowel- 
Amount carried forward, $666 18 



66 todd's country homes. 

Amount brought forward, $666 18 

ing the surface. Let the finishing be done true and smooth, 
without expending three times as much labor as is actually 
necessary. We will compute the plastering at 30 00 

If a heavy bracket cornice be made, nearly 1,000 feet of two- 
inch plank will be required for brackets, 20 00 
Joiners' bill, of 100 days' work, at S3 per day, 300 00 
Helpers, 20 days, at $1.50 per day, 30 00 
100 lbs. white lead, at 12^ cents per lb., 12 50 
15 gallons of boiled oil, at $1.10 per gall., 16 50 
If some cheaper paint, such as Brandon yellow, be used, the ex- 
pense will be much less. Painting two coats within and 
without, six days, 18 00 
Cellar and foundation wall and chimney, from one hundred 
to two hundred dollars, according to the materials employed 
and the price of mason's labor, say 175 00 

Amount of all the items, $1,268 18 

It will be perceived that I have made a liberal esti- 
mate for every item ; and have included several doors 
and windows belonging to the rear part of the dwell- 
ing. In many localities, such a structure can be built 
for much less than these figures, as labor and lumber 
are both lower than I have computed the prices in this 
estimate. In case the prices of materials are higher 
than these figures, it will be very easy to add, or take 
from the prices herewith indicated, so as to make the 
prices conform to the rates in different parts of the 
country. 

In order to cover all possible extra expenses in erect- 
ing the front stairs, eave-troughs, and leaders, another 
hundred dollars may be added, making $1,368.18. 

It will be easy for any intelligent mechanic to com- 
pute the expense of a house of the style indicated, 
when it is desirable to make the outside walls of bricks. 



ESTIMATE OF COST. 67 

cobble-stones, gravel and -mortar, or of oyster-shells, 
or clam-shells and mortar. (See Oyster-shell Villa, 
page 127.) 

In case a young man were half a mechanic, and 
possessed proper independence and ambition, if he 
were within two miles of a liberal supply of oyster- 
shells, and had bass-wood, or white-wood timber of his 
own, he could erect an elegant house for only a few 
hundred dollars in money. Many farmers have maple, 
bass-wood, and other kinds of timber on their own land, 
which could be sawed into joists, studs, and rafters, 
that would prove quite as satisfactory as to purchase 
other kinds of timber. A builder must learn to em- 
ploy such materials as he can obtain on his own ground. 
If stones of any kind are abundant, let the walls be 
made of stone. If gravel, or shell are near by, use 
them. If gravel and clay abound, make adobe walls, 
and cover the outside with cement. 

The foregoing estimate can be used as a model or for- 
mula, by which estimates of the cost of any building 
can be computed accurately. It will require but little 
ingenuity on the part of any one who contemplates 
building, to ascertain, very nearly, the number of joists, 
laths, feet of flooring and roofing, number of doors, 
windows, etc., which will be required in the particular 
case under consideration. The same is true of the 
various items which enter into the calculation, one of 
which — the varying cost of materials — I have already 
alluded to. When these have been ascertained, a j^leas- 
ant and, surely, a profitable evening's work, will be to 
substitute the appropriate figures in the place of those 
which I have just employed, perform a few simple 



68 todd's country homes. ' 

operations in addition and multiplication, and have, as 
the result, a sum which will approximate, very closely, 
to the real cost of the proposed structure. This same 
method may be employed by any one who proposes to 
purchase a house, already built. Let him examine it 
thoroughly, obtain a plan, if possible, learn the quality 
of material used, and help employed, and he can esti- 
mate, accurately enough, the real cost. Add to this 
the fair value of the land which is to go with the house, 
and one can demonstrate by figures which " won't lie," 
whether the price asked for a certain piece of property 
is a fair one or not. This subject is still further ex- 
plained and its advantages noted, in later portions of 
this book, to which I would refer the reader. 

APPEARANCE OF ONE CORNER OF THE FRAME. 

The illustration herewith given (p. 69) represents one 
corner of the balloon frame, resting on the cellar wall 
about two feet above the surface of the ground. Sills, 
2x8 inches, are first laid on the surface of the wall, 
with the corners halved together. The joists are then 
put in their respective places, on the top of the sills, 
lengthways of the building. The ends of the joists at 
the middle of the house, may rest on the surface of the 
cross-sill, or in gains. A strip 2 x 4 is then nailed, as 
represented, on the upper edges of the joists, and the 
side studs stand on this strip. In case the studs were 
one foot longer, they might stand on the sill, by the 
side of the ends of the joists. Before the studs are set 
up, a " stud pattern " should be laid on each one to 
make the place for the girt, and to square each end. 
The tie, or girder. A, is simply a strip of board four 



A BALLOON FRAME. 



69 



inches wide, nailed in the gains of the range of studs. 
After the studs have been put up, plumbed both ways, 
and nailed at the bottom and through the girder, the 
joists, B, B, of the chamber floor, may be put in their 
places, and allowed to rest on the girder, A, until the 
outside faces of the studs are all driven either inward 




A BALLOON FRAME. 



or outward, until they are in a perfect line. Then let 
the ends be nailed as represented in the illustration at 
B, B. The ends of the upper joists may be supported 
at the middle of the frame by a range of partition 
studs, having a two-inch stud laid flatways on the 
upper ends, which will be quite as satisfactory as a 



70 . todd's couxtry homes. 

beam with gains for the ends of the joists. At C the 
plate is represented as nailed on the top ends of the 
studs. In case it were desirable to make the rooms a 
few inches higher, two or three two-inch strips might 
be laid above the plate. D, D, represents the rafter- 
joists, projecting two feet beyond the plate. The 
frame is twenty-four feet wide. Therefore, by slitting 
one joist fourteen feet long, in two equal parts, diagon- 
ally^ we get two rafter-joists, which will give the pitch 
of the roof, sufficiently steep for tin or plastic slate. In 
case shingles were to be employed, it would be neces- 
sary to use rafters. The rafter-joists might be each of 
one piece, in which case, there would be more waste. 
The ends that project may be planed, and the under 
side of the roof boards painted ; or the under side of 
the rafter ends may be ceiled. 

It will always be found an excellent practice when 
erecting a balloon frame, where laths four feet long 
are to be nailed to the studs and joists, to have a meas- 
uring rule four feet long, and graduated by marks 
sixteen inches apart, so that places for all the studs 
may be made exactly sixteen inches from center to 
center. Such a measure will greatly facilitate the 
erection of a balloon frame ; and be the means of pre- 
venting mistakes in the correct distances between 
studs. The remaining portions of this frame will be 
readily understood without any allusion to them. 

DESCRIPTION OF PERSPECTIVE. 

The accompanying perspective (p. 71), which has 
many excellent and very attractive points about it, 
represents one style of finishing a structure that corre- 



PERSPECTIVE OF VILLA. 



71 



spends with the ground-plan and the plan of the 
second floor. It will be perceived that the boards are 
put on vertically. But the same frame could be cov- 
ered with cla]3boards, if such a covering were preferred 
to vertical siding, with battens over the joints. The 
form of the roof may be varied to suit the taste of al-. 
most any person. In case plastic slate or tin were 
employed, the roof might be nearly flat, as represented 




by the skeleton of a portion of the frame preceding the 
elevation. In case a steeper roof or even a Gothic 
roof were desirable, the style that might suit most sat- 
isfactorily could be adopted. If two windows only 
were made in front above the veranda, a pediment 
over • each dormer-window could be grafted into the 
roof The front veranda could be made the entire 
length of the dwelling ; or, which would appear more 



72 TODD'y COUNTKY HOMES. 

tasty, six feet shorter than the front. In case the roof 
of the upright part were flat, the roof of the veranda 
should also be flat If the mam part of the structure 
were finished with a bracket cornice, a bracket cornice 
of corresponding j)roportions should be made on the 
veranda. 

In the perspective, a tower is represented, the cost 
of which was not computed in the bill of materials, and 
which may be omitted or adopted, as one's fancy may 
dictate. The cost of the tower will depend, of course, 
entirely on the manner of finishing the inside and the 
roof. 

If winding stairs, built around a center-pole, were 
adopted, the expense would be very much less than if 
winding stairs were made with a hand-rail and a well- 
hole. A neatly -finished tower would give a very at- 
tractive appearance to such a villa, especially if the 
roof were finished with a well-proportioned cornice. 
Such a tower should, be made about eight feet square. 
Then, at the top, a charming little room could be fin- 
ished off as an observatory, or a cool sleeping-room for 
a student in the summer. .Such a tower should be 
supported by four corner-posts, about 4 to 6 inches 
square, and the studs need be -only 11 x 4 inches 
square. In case corner-posts 6 inches square were em- 
ployed, the inside corners of each post should be cut 
out square to receive the ends of the lath. 

SUGGESTIONS ABOUT ASPECT. 

By aspect we are to understand, position, view, and 
points of the comjjass, at which a dwelling stands. 
With many people, a dwelling-house, or barn, must 



LOCATIOK OF A HOUSE. 73 

always be erected to stand north and south, as nearly 
as may be, even if one corner stands to the street. 
AsjDCct has a special reference to placing the front, or 
rear of a house or barn, at the windward, or leeward 
of prevailing winds and storms. 

Lord Bacon's advice to beginners, when they were 
about to choose a site for a dwelling-house, was to avoid 
ill ways, ill markets, and ill neighbors. In addition to 
such excellent suggestions, it is proper to add that 
there are other considerations of quite as much impor- 
tance as any that have been alluded to. Location, in 
all its phases, should be studied for several days, or, at 
least, until one is entirely satisfied that he has decided 
upon the most desirable location that is available. In 
latitudes where cold, northerly storms prevail, it has 
been affirmed that none but a ninny will ever erect 
his dwelling on the summjt of a hill, unless there should 
be another hill at the windward of the location, to 
shield the dwelling and out-buildings from the cold and 
furious storms of winter. In contradistinction to such 
a quaint maxim, it has been contended that he who 
builds his dwelling in low, flat ground, by the side of 
a river, furnishes custom for the ajjothecary and physi- 
cian, employment for surgeons and coffin-makers, and 
frequent jobs for grave-diggers. If the sunny side of 
a slope is available, or the south side of a ridge or hill, 
such a locality will be exceedingly desirable. In case 
the farm should extend back over one-fourth of a mile 
from the highway, it would be a matter of great con- 
venience and economy, in many respects, to locate the 
dwelling and out-buildings near the middle of the cul- 
tivable land. 



74 todd's countky homes. 

Touching aspect, no rule can be given that will hold 
good in all localities, as a northern or eastern aspect, 
in some sections of the country, will be found uncom- 
fortably cold and cutting in winter ; while in other 
latitudes, g, southern and western aspect will be disa- 
greeably hot and wet. Every person must decide for 
his own locality, what aspect will coincide, most satis- 
factorily, with his particular site. In many sections of 
the country, the coldest and most severe storms always 
come from the north and west. In such places, a 
southern aspect will be found decidedly preferable to 
any other, as.a kitchen and living-room would be more 
pleasant and comfortable on the south, than on the 
north side of the dwelling, during cold weather. By 
such an arrangement, the pantry will appear on the 
north side of the kitchen, which will be a more desira- 
ble place in the summer, than if it were on the south 
side. 

In localities where furious storms prevail in winter, 
the aim should always be, if practicable, to locate the 
buildings behind some hill, or forest, where the dwell- 
ing-house and abodes of domestic animals may be 
screened from the chilling blasts and pelting storms. 
A great many beautiful rural residences are constructed 
entirely according to the direction of the highway, 
rather than the aspect. But aspect should never be 
sacrificed in a dwelling-house, and in the arrangement 
of farm buildings, to the variable direction of a public 
street. Let locality and aspect always be chosen with- 
out any regard to the highway, even if one corner of a 
dwelling, rather than the front, or side, be presented to 
the street. Above, all, let the common practice be 



COUNTING THE COST. 75 

avoided, of squatting a dwelling-house so near the 
borders of the highway, that every passer-by can peep 
into the front windows. In the country, it is always 
desirable to provide for a spacious door-yard. Half an 
acre or more ground between the front door and the 
street; will not be lost, as it can be appropriated to the 
production of grass. If a dwelling be located near the 
highway, the side next to the street should stand par- 
allel with it. But, when the homestead is in the mid- 
dle of the farm, other considerations, besides a position 
parallel with the street, or a north and south line, 
should determine which way the front of a dwelling 
should stand. 

HOW TO COMPUTE THE COST OF A HOUSE. 

Of course, many unprincipled builders will sneer at 
the idea of attempting to ascertain, by computation, 
about how much a house will cost. But, by only a 
little figuring and conference with a practical honest 
builder, one can determine, within a few dollars, what 
will be the expense of a dwelling-house of a given size 
and style of the architecture. An honest joiner can 
state about how long time will be required to erect the 
frame ; how many square feet of flooring there are ; 
about how many feet a man can lay in a day ; how many 
windows and doors there are ; how much time will be 
required to make each door and window ; how much 
time will be consumed in making the cornice and put- 
ting on the roof; how long it will take one joiner to 
put up the stairs, and finish off each room. Take each 
piece of work by itself, and note the number of days 
and parts of days required to finish every piece of 



76 todd's country homes. 

work. The price of the joiner work on a small house 
can be computed, in this manner, satisfactorily accu- 
rate, for all practical purposes. If the doors, window- 
sashes and blinds are to be purchased, count the num- 
ber and set down the cost. Now, that you know how 
many windows and doors there are, you can estimate 
the cost of the hinges, latches, locks, glass, weights, or 
fastenings, and ascertain at the hardware store, the 
cost of such materials as you desire to make use of 
In estimating the quantity of flooring, it will be well to 
purchase a few boards more than the estimate, so as to 
have enough to complete the job. Make an estimate 
of the number of feet required for the casings of one 
door and one window. Then, multiply the number of 
feet of lumber by the number of windows and doors. 
This figuring will give correct data. 

Take the measure of the sides of every room for the 
base-boards and you will have another starting-point. 
Ascertain about how much lumber you will want for 
finishing the pantry ; and purchase boards a foot or 
more wide, and sixteen feet long, rather than take lum- 
ber of all lengths and of various widths. A great 
many dollars can be saved, in the lumber for one house, 
by simply purchasing boards of the desired width. The 
longer they are, the less waste there will be. 

A beginner, whose available funds are limited, should 
have a full bill of all the necessary materials, drawn up 
plainly, so that one can see at a glance, exactly what 
will be required. He can then communicate with 
lumber dealers, dealers in hardware, door and blind 
manufacturers, and thus be able to figure up the cash 
cost of anything he may propose to build. In case 



EXCAVATION. 77 

one could procure most of the timber on his own land, 
a bill would be of great aid, when cutting the saw-logs 
for studs and joists. 

EXCAVATING FOR CELLARS. 

The correct and most economical way of excavating 
ground for cellars is, to perform most of the labor with 
a team, plow, and dirt scraper, where such appliances 
can be used. When the team can be driven into the 
cellar from one direction, and out on the opposite side, 
two men and a team will be able to excavate a large 
space in one day. 

After as much earth has been excavated with a 
scraper as can be advantageously, the next most eco- 
nomical way to remove the dirt is, to throw it out with 
shovels on the sides of the cellar, and haul it away with 
a dirt scraper; or to shovel the dirt on wagons and 
cart it away. The most expensive manner of making 
excavations is to have it done with laborers and wheel- 
barrows, or with one-horse carts. Most builders have 
no correct idea of the much greater expense of making 
an excavation by means of w^heel-barrows and one- 
horse carts, than with vehicles drawn by two horses. 
Here is an opportunity to save money, simply by the 
exercise of a little correct engineering. Excavations 
are frequently made for buildings, which cost just three 
times as much as is really necessary, simply because 
the management of the laborers was not according to 
correct, philosophical and economical principles. Here 
lies the error. Several men are employed, each with 
a one-horse cart, to haul away the earth. The cart 
alone is usually about as much of a load as an ordinary 



78 todd's countey homes. 

horse should draw. Consequently, each cart can carry 
only six or eight bushels of earth at one load. If each 
man were to drive two strong horses, and carry three 
times as many bushels of earth, at every load, who 
does not see that the expense of carting will be greatly 
reduced ? As a general rule, a horse that draws a 
huge dirt-cart, hauls back and forth, at every load, an 
equivalent to four, or six hundred pounds of earth, in 
the form of an unnecessarily heavy vehicle. Some one 
must pay, dearly -too, for carting so many redundant 
pounds of a heavy cart, instead of earth. 

Another thing is often lost sight of when excavations 
are being made. Two men are frequently sent with 
only one team and one wagon. This is poor economy 
and expensive management. You are doubtless j)ay- 
ing a teamster $4 or $5 per day. He should not spend 
much of his time shoveling ; because, when he shovels, 
and his team is standing still, you will be paying at 
the rate of $4 or $5 per day for a single laborer, when 
you could employ two or more shovelers for that price. 

Here is an opportunity to save money, by employ- 
ing a sufficient number of laborers to shovel, to keep 
the teamster constantly moving. The most economical 
way when carting peat, clay, or earth of any kind, is 
to have two wagons. One laborer who is able to earn 
a laborer's wages at shoveling earth, can load a wagon 
as soon as the teamster can drive ten to forty rods, 
unload it, and return. Therefore if two wagons are 
used he will just keep a teamster moving. Where the 
shoveling is fair, a laborer can throw on four loads, or 
tons per hour ; and by using two wagons, and changing 
the team every load, a ton of earth should be carted 



EXPENSE OF EXCAVATING. 79 

every fifteen minutes. This is not an extraordinary 
estimate. Faithful laborers are capable of doing this 
amount of work with comparative ease. A builder 
may save many dollars when excavating for his cellar, 
by simply laying his plans according to the foregoing 
suggestions. 

EXCAVATING BY THE CUBIC YAED. 

It is a very easy thing to determine, within a few 
dollars, how much an excavation will be likely to cost, 
when all the earth must be removed with a wheel-bar- 
row, or be carted away. Of course, the solidity of the 
ground must be taken into the account, as a man will 
shovel tw^o cubic yards on a wagon, where the earth is 
light and porous, sooner than one yard, where he must 
dig up every inch of it with a pick. But the carting 
will be about the same, in both instances. 

A span of horses, if the traveling is fair, will take a 
cubic yard of earth every load. Therefore, by allow- 
ing men and teams to work one day, at excavating, a 
builder can make a satisfactory estimate as to the entire 
expense of a given excavation. Let us suppose a case: 
An excavation is to be made for a house, 30 feet long, 
by 16 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. Now, 30 by 16 
multiplied by 4 equals 1,920 cubic feet of earth ; or, as 
there are 27 cubic feet in a yard, there will be 71 
cubic yards or loads of earth in making the excavation. 
Then a man and team will cart four yards an hour, if 
he uses two wagons, a distance of one-eighth of a mile; 
or forty loads or yards in a day. If the earth can be 
shoveled without being picked up, one man will load 
four wagons per hour. If a part of it must be picked 



80 todd's countey homes. 

up, two men will be required to load it. If the earth 
is very compact, three men will be required to load 
the earth as fast as one man can cart it away. There 
are 71 cubic yards or loads, which a teamster, with 
two wagons, will cart in two days, with ease, if the 
earth is loaded in good time. Now, if a teamster's 
wages be |3 pet day, and shoveler's wages $1.50 each, 
we can determine exactly how much an excavation 
will cost. Two days for a teamster and team, |6 ; two 
men to shovel two days each, at |1.50 per day, will 
equal $6 more. If the ground is very hard, add the 
wages of another man — $3 dollars for two days, which 
will make $9 for the shoveling; or, f 15 for the entire 
work. In localities where wages are either more or 
less, than the foregoing figures, this estimate will not 
show the correct expense. 

This estimate is within bounds, where laborers work 
their full time, and with faithfulness equal to their 
wages. But, if a shoveler is half an hour behind time, 
and must squander awa}^ about fifteen minutes in every 
hour, in getting a drink, and firing up his pipe, the 
cost will be increased beyond my figures. 

ANOTHER ESTIMATE OF EXPENSE. 

Now let us see how much the expense will be, for 
excavating for the same cellar, by employing two men, 
with one ^vagon, instead of two men to shovel, and a 
teamster with two wagons. 

The teamster's wages will be $3, and his assistant 
$1.50, or $4.50 per day. If the digging is hard, the 
two will not excavate more than one yard per hour, or 
ten yards per day. As there are 71 yards, it will take 



FOUNDATIONS. 81 

them seven days, at a cost of $31.50 to excavate, for 
the same celhir, which cost only $15, by employing 
the right men in the right place. 

Some biiiklers contend, that the most economical 
way to excavate for a cellar is, to employ men with 
wheel-barrows. The expense of excavating with 
shovels and wheel-barrows will be from twelve and a 
half cents a cubic yard, to thirty cents per yard, ac- 
cording to the compactness of the ground, and the dis- 
tance the earth is to be wdieeled. 

The correct way to arrive at some definite conclusion 
in this matter is, to employ a faithful man, for one 
day, with a wheel-barrow ; and let him excavate a 
square hole, as large as he can dig out in a day. Then 
measure it, and make the estimate for the entire cel- 
lar. But, if possible, let most of the work be done with 
a plow and scraper, as teams will perform more labor 
than men. 

THE FOUNDATION OF BUILDINGS. 

The durability of any building will be greatly en- 
hanced by moans of an excellent foundation. It is 
unwise policy to rest a building on a foundation that 
will yield in a few years. In many localities the earth 
is so soft that a cellar may be sunk to any desired 
depth with a shovel. When heavy buildings are 
erected on such ground, there is much danger that 
some corner may settle, to the serious injury of the 
edifice. Boards or planks are frequently laid on the 
ground beneath the foundation wall. But such a prac- 
tice cannot be denounced in too strong language, as 
boards, in such places so favorable to speedy decay, 

. 6, 



82 todd's country homes. 

will soon loose their solidity, and thus allow the wall 
and a portion of the superstructure to settle. The 
true way tb prepare a foundation in such places is to 
excavate the dirt, say six inches lower than the bottom 
of the cellar, and three or more feet wide, stamp the 
earth thoroughly with a rammer, and lay thick flag- 
ging-stones on the bottom, resting on a bed of cement. 
Such a foundation will not be expensive, and it will 
remain intact for ages after the men who built the wall 
have been forgotten. If the land is at all springy, let 
drain-tiles be laid entirely around the outside of the 
foundation, to catch and conduct away the excess of 
moisture that would render the cellar or basement of 
the building undesirably damp. A few dollars ex- 
pended in a proper manner, and at a correct period, 
will not fail sometimes to enhance the value of a build- 
ing or cellar more than a hundred dollars. A poor 
foundation beneath a fine superstructure is often a 
source of grief that a few dollars can never mitigate. 
And let me urge, at this point, the importance of pre- 
paring a permanent foundation for every barn and 
other out-building. If the country affords no other 
material than bricks, miles away, lay a firm foundation, 
if the superstructure is to be nothing but a hennery or 
piggery. And let the bottom stones, or bricks, be 
placed so far in the earth that frost will never disturb 
them. When the earth freezes and thaws beneath a 
wall for a few successive winters, some part of the 
building will most assuredly be thrown from its de- 
sired position. Always exercise unusual care in plac- 
ing the foundation stones at each corner. So long as 
the corners continue unmoved, the foundation walls 



CONSTRUCTION OF CELLARS. 83 

and the superstructure will remain firm and whole. 
Barns and other out-buildings that do not stand over a 
cellar proper, should have a convenient basement be- 
neath them. Even on level ground, the earth may be 
excavated two or three feet, and the convenient room 
of one storj more be secured beneath the same roof, 
by the expenditure of only a few dollars more than 
is required to place a building on half a foundation. 

CONSTRUCTION OF THE CELLAR. 

The cellar of a dwelling-house, or an out-building, 
should be constructed with extreme care, especially 
where there is an excess of water in the land. A cel- 
lar should be dry. A damp, wet cellar is an intoler- 
able nuisance. Fruit and vegetables will freeze much 
sooner in a damp cellar, than if the same apartment 
were dry. The ground is sometimes so " springy " 
that water will bubble up all over the bottom of the 
cellar. In most instances, the cellar should extend 
under the entire building ; and if it is so wet as to re- 
quire drainage, the trenches for the foundation wall 
should extend below the cellar, and be filled to the 
level of the cellar floor with finely-broken stones. The 
trenches under the walls should all have a fall to the 
place of discharge, or where they shall connect with the 
main drainage conduit. This conduit, when practica- 
ble, should be a close pipe, and should always be 
trapped, to prevent the cool air of the cellar from 
flowing out through the conduit, and a corresponding 
amount of warm air being drawn into the cellar, which 
will be the effect without the use of the trap. A nar- 
row channel should be sunk in the bottom of the exca- 



84 . todd's country homes. 

vation, into which two-inch tiles should be laid. Be- 
fore any tiles are laid, the water-channel should be 
formed from the highest point to the place where the 
water will discharge, and water should be poured into 
the chainiel at the most elevated place, and the bot- 
tom filiould be graded until water will pass off readily. 
The tiles should be laid at least eight or ten inches 
lower than the cellar bottom. Let the tiles be placed 
beyond the outside of the wall, if convenient, so that 
the water, as it descends from the surface, may be 
received by the tiles, and be conveyed away before 
the channel is half fdled. By having a tile conduit 
entirely a-round the cellar, and nearly one foot lower 
than the cellar bottom, the veins of water will be cut 
off^ and the earth will be comparatively firm and dry. 
Serious mistakes are often experienced when construct- 
ing a cellar, by guessing at the inclination of the water 
channel. As this conduit is to be made only once for 
life, a person cannot be too careful to make every part 
exactly right. A few pails of w^ater will show exactly 
when the grading is correctly done. 

Sometimes a conduit is made of stones. But stones, 
for such a purpose, are not so desirable as tiles, because 
rats will work dirt into the channel, and thus obstruct 
the water-course. But they cannot fill the tiles with 
any obstruction. Let the hardest tiles, that will never 
crumble when exposed to the water, be selected for the 
foregoing purpose. 

HOW TO BUILD ABUTMENT WALLS. 

Foundation walls of buildings which rest against a 
bank of earth, such as the wall of a large barn stand- 



ABUTMENT WALLS. 85 

ing on a side hill, are frequently tliriist inward after a 
few years, so that a whole broadside will be in danger 
of flilling inward. If the earth against which the wall 
Avas built, were full of water flowing from springs, or 
from the roof of the superstructure of the building, 
the expansion and heaving of the ground in cold 
weather, will almost always, thrust a wall inward a 
trifle. Then, after the top has begun to overhang, that 
portion midway between the corners will be thrust 
over further and further every winter. 

I have in mind a number of large and valuable 
barns and dwelling-houses which were supported by 
a foundation-wall eighteen inches thick, portions of 
which were thrust inward so far, during three winters, 
by the expansion of the earth, that a large j)i^oportion 
of the wall on one side, was necessarily taken down 
and rebuilt. Had every stone been properly laid at 
the outset, the wall would have stood for ages, and 
effectually resisted all action of the alternate freezing 
and thawing; of the earth. 

Foundation walls of buildings, and walls of abut- 
ments, are seldom built as such structures should be. 
The inside face is usually carried uj) perpendicularly. 
In this position, the lateral thrust of a small force, at 
the top of the wall, at which point the earth acts with 
the greatest force in cold and freezing weather, will 
drive the top inward more and further every winter. 
When the top of a perpendicular wall has been thrust 
inward by the frost, it never settles back to its original 
position. 

The correct way to put up a foundation for a dwell- 
ing, or any othe;^ edifice, is, to carry up the inside face 



86 TODp's COUNTRY HOMES. 

battering. If, for example, a stone waU one and a 
half feet thick and six and a half feet high is desired, 
the top need not be over ten or twelve inches wide for 
an ordinary edifice. For the wall of a heavy barn, the 
bottom should be not less than two to three feet broad, 
with the inside face battering to a breadth of fifteen 
inches on the top. If such a wall be laid up in good 
mortar, it will efiectually resist all action of the frost. 

Wherever the ground is springy, it is eminently im- 
portant, that a space of one foot or more between the 
earth and the outside of the main wall, should be filled 
with loose stones, to convey all water down to the tiles 
before it comes in contact with the main wall. By this 
means, a twofold object will be secured — a dry wall 
within, which will do much toward forming a dry cel- 
lar, and a foundation that frost and rain will never 
move. 

When stone walls are built along a hill, the face 
should always be carried up still more battering than 
beneath a superstructure. Then, even if the frost were 
to thrust the entire wall bodily, toward a perpendicular, 
the structure would settle back to its original position 
as soon as the frozen earth was deprived of the frost. 
But a perpendicular wall would soon be thrown to the 
ground. 

There is another point in erecting a cellar-wall, or 
a wall along a bank of earth, which will be found of 
ejninent importance, namely, " chocking up " the broad 
stones on the back side. If this is neglected, or im- 
properly done, the rear side of the wall will settle a 
trifle beneath the superincumbent pressure, and the 
middle will "bulge inward," so that a whole side will 



IMPORTANT DETAILS. 87 

need to be taken down and rebuilt. It is scarcely 
necessary to suggest that all such walls should be 
erected in the former part of the season, so that the 
mortar may have ample time to become thoroughly 
dry and hard before cold weather. 

» 

IMPORTANT DETAILS. 

Many masons require more or less watching, when 
building a foundation wall, to see that every interstice 
is jfilled with stone chips and mortar. When a stone 
wall is being carried up by a bank of earth, masons 
who do not care what they do, will often fill in with 
earth instead of stones and mortar. If the wall be 
built by contract, let the proprietor not fail to see that 
the best of lime, cement and sand are employed for 
making mortar, and that the joints of the surface of 
the wall be neatly pointed both within and without 
Else, a mason will plead that " pointing a wall is no 
part of building it." Therefore, an extra charge must 
be incurred, when the pointing would have been done 
at the same price, had it been mentioned in the con- 
tract. It is one of the tricks of an honest trade on the 
part of contractors to " slip out " of doing as much as 
possible. Inexperienced beginners should therefore, 
call the roll of items, until the list embraces every 
stroke of the hammer, trowel, and paint-brush. 

In case the stairs of the outside cellar-way are not 
made of stone, but of wood, let the ends of the plank 
treads and risers be supported — not by the wall — but 
in such a manner that they can readily be renewed, in 
case of a premature decay of the timber. Let there 
be at least two windows at each end of the portion of 



88 todd's country homes. 

the cellar beneath the upright part of the dwelling, so 
as to secure .satisfactory ventilation. And, in those 
sections of country where the cold is liable to freeze 
vegetables, let double windows be provided, one sash 
and an air-tight l)lind fitted neatly to each window. 
The jamb casings of the outside cellar doOr should be 
at least one foot wide, so that a door may be hung on 
each side, for the purpose of producing a spacious air- 
chamber between the doors, to exclude the cold. 

Masons dislike to build a wall with a battering face ; 
and if they can talk the proprietor out of the notion of 
it, they will do so. Yet if one will insist in having the 
details herewith given, followed out to the letter, it 
will be seen that the foundation will prove far supe- 
rior to another wall, having a base of eighteen inches, 
instead of two feet. A wall with a battering face will 
never be thrust inward by the freezing and expansion 
of the earth on the outside. If a wall be three feet 
at the bottom, and one at the top, it will be much 
stronger than if the same quantity of materials were 
laid in a two-foot wall. 

As soon as the foundation wall is finished, the earth 
on the outside should be graded, so as to descend from 
the house, on every side, as much as two or three 
inches in every rod, so as to carry all surface water 
directly from the wall, and also, to relieve the wall of 
that inward thrust by the expansion of the surface of 
the ground, when it freezes. The greater the slope 
of the surflice of the ground towards the wall, the 
more powerful and severe Avill be the thrust against 
the outside tendino; to throw the wall inward. On the 
contrary, the greater the inclination of the slope aioay 



EEXDERIXG A WET CELLAR DRY. 89 

• 

from the wall, the lighter will be the thrust from the 
freezing and consequent expansion of the same ground. 
In case the excavating be done by contract, let the 
proprietor see to it, that the surface is properly graded, 
as has been suggested. The surface should always be 
graded with a level sk)pe on every side of the build- 
ing, rather than with an inclined slope, as no edifice 
presents a finished architectural appearance, when the 
sill of one side, is nearer the surfiice of the ground at 
one end than at the other. 

RENDERING A WET CELLAR DRY. 

If a cellar be wet, after the house is finished, there 
are two ways of rendering the apartment dry ; one of 
whicli is, to cut a ditch entirely around the outside of 
the dwelling-house, and lay tiles in the bottom of the 
channel ; and the other is, to dig a channel in the cellar 
around the outside, close to the wall, and lay a cor.rso 
of drain-tiles in it. The ditch on the outside of the 
wall, may cut off all the veins of water when it is sunk 
two feet deep ; and if the veins be fir down in the 
earth, the channel must be dug lower than the bottom 
of the cellar wall, in order to cut off the water. 

The leader, or water-pipe, should discharge into the 
tile-drain, for the purpose of keeping the passage open. 
If all the water is conducted to the cistern, let the dis- 
charge-pipe empty into the tile-drain. If a person can 
have every part of the water-works about his dwelling 
operate properly at all times, it w^ill be a source of 
eminent satisfaction. It can be done, however, if the 
foregoing directions be observed in the construction of 
every part of th« cellar. 



90 todd's country homes. " 

• 

An excess of water or too much dampness arises, in 
some instances, from surfoce water, and in others from 
spring-veins that crop out in the cellar. In many in- 
stances, when the excavation is being made for a cellar 
in heavy, springy ground, water-veins are cut oflf two 
or three feet below the surface of the ground. 

When such is the case, the water in those veins will 
be discharged behind the cellar Avail, and will settle 
down and pass along on the surface of the cellar bot- 
tom. Sometimes, however, the veins of water are not 
reached until the excavation is about completed. Then, 
when the water-veins, which pass through the earth 
like the blood- veins through the body of a living ani- 
mal, are filled with water, the bottom of the cellar will 
often be covered with water, even when a good under- 
drain has been provided to convey it away as soon as 
it has accumulated in sufficient quantities to flow out 
through the water-course. 

I have had occasion to examine several cellars, the 
bottoms of which are below the surface of the East 
River, and which aforetime were always so wet, at high 
tides, as to be unfit for even a store-room of any kind. 
But they were rendered satisfactorily dry for eating- 
saloons, simply by covering the sides and bottom with 
a heavy coat of the best hydraulic cement, and after it 
had dried, applying an overcoating of plastic slate ma- 
terial. The plastic slate should be spread on, while 
warm, with a plastering trowel, just as a wall is made 
in a dwelling-house. Any cellar that cannot be drained 
may be rendered perfectly dry by cementing the sides 
and the bottom, and covering the cement with the 
plastic, made of coal tar and slate flour, both of which 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY. 91 

can be obtained at a trifling expense. If the correct 
proportion of tar and slate flour be mingled together, 
the material will be as impervious to water as one un- 
broken piece of Vermont slate, sufliciently large to ex- 
tend over the entire cellar bottom. If the work be 
properly done, the bottom and sides of the cellar will 
be as water-tight as a jug. Too much pains cannot be 
taken to render a cellar dry, as its dryness or damp- 
ness has a very great influence upon the health of those 
who live over it.' 

CAUSES OF WET AND DAMP CELLARS. 

If a cellar were cut in a solid rockj it might be one 
of the worst places that can be imagined, for dampness 
to gather on the face of the side walls. As the surface 
of a rock in the foundation of a house, below the sur- 
face of the ground, is frequently so much colder than 
the atmosphere, as soon as aqueous vapor fills the cel- 
lar, it will be condensed on the walls. Then, when a 
stone wall is laid up in wet ground, so that the damp- 
ness from the ground can come directly in contact with 
the wall, and saturate the mortar, and keep the tem- 
perature of the stones in the wall, so. low that the sur- 
face will condense a damp atmosphere, the cellar is 
liable to be more or less wet. If the surface of the 
wall be covered with large drops of water, of course, 
the entire cellar will shortly be filled with aqueous 
vapor, which will make everything so damp, that an 
unsightly mould will appear on the surface of every 
article. 

In case the earth is full of water-veins round about 
the cellar, and so near the cellar bottom, that the water 



92 todd's country homes. 

will ooze to the surface, except in dry weather, a cellar 
will usually be disagreeably wet and damp. When 
there are no eave-troughs for the roof, a large num- 
ber of barrels of water will frequently be poured so 
closely to the foundation wall, that, unless the surface 
of the earth is so compact and sloping, as to convey 
it away from the wall, as fast as it falls, or unless there 
is a good drain to receive it, the cellar will be wet and 
cold. 

When ordinary bricks are emploj^ed for building a 
foundation, if the damp ground is permitted to come in 
close contact with the wall, the bricks and mortar will 
be so saturated with water, and wall be so cold, that 
the inner surface will condense aqueous vapor, and 
render the cellar extremely wet. In many instances, 
flag-stones, that are laid for a walk, where the ground 
is wet, will be so cold and damp as " to sweat," as we 
express it, colloquially, by condensing the aqueous 
vapor of the surrounding atmosphere. But if the 
ground were dry beneath the stones, no vapor would 
be condensed. And so it is with cellar Avails. Let the 
mortar and stones, or brick wall, be kept dry, and the 
surface of the wall will not condense the aqueous vapor 
of the atmosphere. Wet and cold Avails Avill, almost 
always, cause a cellar to be damp. Apples, or vege- 
tables will freeze in a damp cellar much sooner than in 
one that has damp walls. 

HALF WALLS FOR CELLARS. 

In some sections of country where building-stone is 
very scarce, and the subsoil is compact and hard, the 
cellar Avails may be built with a small amount of stone. 



HALF WALLS FOR CELLARS. 03 

after the following manner : Excavate the ground of 
the size of the oelhir, about one foot deep, and buikl the 
foundation wall two feet high, making calculations to 
grade up on the outside neaily one foot high. Let the 
wall above the ground be ciirried up with square tim- 
ber laid on the wall to the desired heii^iit. If a wall is 
built of two courses of stone, the frost will be excluded 
from the cellar much longer than it will if the stones 
extend entirely across the wall. Now, leL the cellar 
be dug about three and a half feet below the bottom 
of the walls, leaving a square shoulder of earth, not 
less than two feet wide, entirely around the cellar. 
Then let the shoulder of earth be well plastered with 
water-lime mortar, both on the side and on the top. 
This shoulder will be found a very convenient shelf to 
place barrels on in the winter. I know of cellars that 
have been built in this manner fifteen years; and are 
now as good as when they were first built. But the 
frost must be kept out of such cellars, or it will injure 
the plastering, and make it peel off. The middle of 
such cellars should be the hio;hest; and a orutter should 
be made around the outside to carry off the water. 
My own cellar is built in this manner; and altliough it 
has been built ten years, and has been injured by the 
frost only a little in two places, still I regret that the 
walls were not built from the bottom of the cellar with 
good stone. These considerations with reference to 
the foundation wall, are equally applicable to the 
foundation of a barn or other out-buildings. Every 
building should have a good stone wall under it, laid 
up in lime mortar. 



94 todd's country uomes. 



REGULATING THE TEMPERATURE OF CELLARS. 

Notwithstanding all that has been penned, touching 
dry and agreeable cellars, if the windows are small and 
few, it will be very difficult to have a nice cellar. As 
a general rule, the cellar windows are not half as large 
as they should be. More than this, the sashes should 
be so fitted to the frames that the windows may be 
opened and closed without difficulty. 

A great many people often complain of bad butter, 
white, soft, and hard to come. They are troubled to 
keep anything in their cellars. Meat will spoil in a 
day or two. Fruit will mould. And the cellar is any- 
thing but a pleasant place to be in ; and this all when 
the season is not so very warm ; but rather cool and 
uniform. The temperature, it must be remembered, is 
the thing at fiult; and that is under the control of the 
windows. The temperature may be regulated by sim- 
ply shutting them in warm weather and opening them 
in cold. At night usually is the time to open the win- 
dows. Sometimes, with a north wind, the windows 
may be kept open all day, even if the sun is quite 
warm, the air itself being still cold. Keep them open 
while cold, whether a day or a week; but close them 
at the first approach of warm air. 

Warm air, if permitted to enter your cellar, will blpw 
out the cold air, although the cold air is much the 
heaviest, and would remain, were there no wind. But 
the wind will force it out. Then, the cellar will soon 
be warm ; and once warmed, it will be difficult to get it 
as cool again as before. It can be done, however, if 
the after weather prove quite cold and lasting, for 



HONEST TRICKS OF JOINERS. 95 

several clays. In no case let the warm wind enter the 
cellar in the summer. When the cellar is filled with 
cool air, let the windows and doors be kept closed, and 
the atmosphere will remain cool and sweet. Some- 
times the windows are shut for a week, or for two 
weeks, and even more, with only occasional whiffs of 
air let in early at morning. This warms slightly. But 
the temperature soon gets cooler, the cold walls absorb- 
ing the warmth with little effect on the temperature. 
It must be considered that, in a clean cellar, the air is 
not consumed and rendered foul -by the lungs of living 
beings, as in an occupied room. The air, therefore, 
may be kept cool and sweet, by simply opening and 
closing the windows at proper times. 

It is an excellent practice, when making a new cellar, 
to make arrangements for putting up a stove in the 
cellar, in very cold weather, to keep out the frost. In 
some localities, the frost can be kept out, by simply 
having double sashes and glass in each window-frame. 
But a small stove with a little fire in it, would cost but 
a trifle, and would be a sure way of maintaining the 
desired temperature of the cellar, in which vegetables 
and fruit might be stored. 

HONEST TRICKS OF JOINERS. 

Builders and contractors aim, as much as possible, 
to keep people in ignorance of the actual cost of all 
kinds of edifices. They will often sacrifice honor, and 
every principle of integrity, when there seems to be an 
opportunity offered for them to take a contract, for two 
or three times more than would be a fair price. I am 
sorry to say, that professional builders, as a rule, when 



96 todd's countey homes. 

requested to make a fair estimate of a dwelling, will 
almost always, fix the price from one to four thousand 
dollars higher than would be a lair price. I frequently 
meet with contracts for building houses in which the 
contractor often makes $10,000 over and above all 
cash expenses, for simply supervising the work. 

I trust the inquiring reader will pardon an egotis- 
tical allusion, touching the point in question. A few 
years ago, a feeble church desired to make some im- 
provements in their house of w^orship. They adver- 
tised, and obtained the sealed proposals of several pro- 
fessional builders. The job was then put up for the 
lowest bid. As the crier was about to knock it off*, I 
bid one-half the lowest bid. I.t was like a bomb-shell 
among the builders ! I was a farmer. Did I expect 
to do that job in a workman-like manner for that price? 
Tlie answer was, I do ; and to midve a nice thing out 
of it also, I replied. After denomicing me as a fool, 
and affirming that it was utterly impossible for any one 
to purchase the materials for that price, one of the 
best builders underbid me, and took the job. A young 
journeyman who did most of the work assured me, 
that they made a considerable more than day wages, 
at that job, even at those low figures. 

A friend of mine, who was erecting a house w^ortli 
about $6,000, employed a professional builder to jore- 
pare a bill of materials, for which he received $10. I 
made a bill and estimate one evening gratuitously, for 
the same house, and saved the proprietor $1,000 in 
materials and $600 in the work. 

In order to give a fair idea of the mode of procedure, 
it ^N\\\ be necessary to have the entire plan of the 



joiners' contract and specifications. 97 

house so well understood, that the eye can picture 
every part as it will appear, after the edifice is finished. 
Expert builders, when preparing diagrams of a build- 
ing, making estimates of work, and executing a given 
job, usually set up an imaginary frame, or building 
complete — a regular " air castle ; " and when they 
think, or speak of any part of the edifice, the imagin- 
ary edifice looms before the eyes of their imagination. 
Every joist, stud, and other pieces all appear, just as 
they will look when the re«? frame, or finished build- 
ing, stands complete, and ready for its occupants. 

These thoughts are brought out, that beginners may 
be prepared to meet jockeys, with certain suggestions, 
which will prompt them to be somewhat cautious in 
some of their statements. If a builder states that 
2,000 feet of flooring will be required, let him indicate 
exactly where that quantity of lumber may be used. 
If he says 10,000 feet of joists and studs will be needed, 
let him state where he will use such a quantity of lum- 
ber. And so, let the beginner examine every item 
with extreme care. 

JOINERS' contract AND SPECIFICATIONS. 

To aid beginners in making a satisfiictory bargain 
for erecting a house, I herewith submit a form of con- 
tract and specifications, which will enable a builder, or 
any one else, to determine, at a glance, whether the 
clifierent parts of a superstructure are being built as 
the proprietor desires to have them. ' One of the most 
disastrous practices in the erection of a commodious 
edifice is, rushing the work along at all hazards, before 
the timber and lumber are half seasoned, and without 

7 



98 todd's country homes. 

allowing the walls to shrink and settle a trifle, as the 
walls of almost every edifice will, during the first year 
after the building is put up. Manj^ builders will jockey 
their employers by making an estimate, at the outset, 
for the most expensive lumber, doors, glass, and paint; 
and after they have secured the job, will use second 
rate materials, -and even culls, which did not cost more 
than half the estimated price. Erecting a nice and 
commodious cottage, or villa, is a job for all your life- 
time. If one makes mistakes in building a house, by 
using poor materials, it is not a desirable job to be 
constantly making repairs or alterations. A knotty 
board, or a shaky siding may be taken off, and a sound 
one put in its place. But whoever engages in such a 
job with any feelings of satisfaction, after a fair price 
has been paid for prime materials ? So many window- 
panes, that will give every object that is seen through 
them, the appearance of a double-and-twisted contor- 
tion, be removed from the sashes, and clear, trans- 
parent glass put in their places. But who cares to 
perform such a perplexing job ? 

After the plan has been fully matured, let working 
drawings be made, if possible ; at least, make out a 
rude diagram of the plan and superstructure. Then, 
take the items separately, and designate exactly, what 
is to be performed, and the manner of doing the work. 
The form of the contract may run thus, with variations 
to suit circumstances: "This document is to certify 
that we, A. B. and Co., agree to erect a cottage for D. 
C, of Newark, N. J. Said building to be of wood, 
thirty by forty feet square on the ground, with twenty 
feet posts, or walls, with a cellar six and a half feet 



joiners' contract and specifications. 99 

high in the clear." Now describe the form of house 
and arrangement of rooms as minutely as you choose. 

The cellar is' to be four and a half feet deep, meas- 
uring from the surface of the ground ; the earth to be 
dropped in the low places in the front yard, and the 
surfoce neatly graded around the dwelling. The foun- 
dation wall to be all built of good hard stone, laid in 
best lime and sharp sand mortar. Base course two 
feet six inches wide, of large flat stones, the top of base 
eight inches below cellar floor ; the rest of the walls 
eighteen inches thick, the portion above ground outside 
laid in courses and pointed ; foundation for veranda, 
porch columns, and for chimneys, outer stone stairs, all 
laid in the best lime-mortar. Here specify, explicitly, 
all about any division walls in the cellar, and the kind 
of bricks to be employed ; also the lathing, plastering, 
and chimneys, how to be done, and when to be finished. 
Let everything be written out so definitely, that a boy 
ten years old could examine the work, and judge 
whether it were performed according to contract. 
Read over your specifications every day for a week ; 
revise and add to, until you have made a note of every 
item. 

The timber to be of a given size ; the joists to be not 
smaller than two by eight inches, and sixteen inches 
apart ; and the studs two by four inches, and sixteen 
inches from center to center. Here describe the form 
of roof; the materials for covering it; the finish; the 
windows and kind of glass, the sashes, to be made of 
timber free from sap-wood and painted with two heavy 
coats before the glass is set. Describe the doors, stating 
whether they may be small or large, thick or thin. 



100 todd's countky homes. 

Then describe the manner of finishing off each room, 
and the kind of paint to be used. Describe the floor 
boards as not over six inches wide, one inch or more 
thick, matched, free from loose knots, and to be sunned 
in hot and dry weather, not less than two weeks before 
the boards are laid. Describe the stairs ; the width, 
thickness, and length of the treads, the height of risers 
and the form of the hand-rail and banisters. • The house 
to be completed in a neat and workman-like manner, 
for so much, by the first of July ; and the remainder to 
be ready for occupancy by November first. Pay when 
the agreement states. Then, both parties sign each 
document, and each take a copy. 

WOEKIXG SEASONED TIMBER. 

All kinds of timber, whether it be in the form of 
sills, summers, joists, studs, or boards, will shrink, both 
endways of the timber and sideways of the grain of the 
w^ood. When erecting certain styles of houses, un- 
seasoned joists or studs may be employed as satisfac- 
torily as seasoned timber. But, as a general rule, the 
joists of every house should be most thoroughly sea- 
soned before the inside wood-work is finished. When 
unseasoned joists are employed, the shrinkage allows 
the entire floor to settle away from the base-boards on 
the side of every room next to the outer walls. By 
this means a large opening is sometimes formed be- 
neath the base, w^hich admits currents of cold air. 
Besides this, wdien partition studs are set up before the 
joists have ceased to shrink, the shrinkage and settling 
of the floor in the middle of a room, more than it set- 
tles at the outer walls, cracks the partition walls and 
deranges the joiner's work. 



WORKING SEASONED TIMBEE. 101 

In nearly all the. elegant houses that are built in the 
city with wooden joists, the stairs, if secured to one 
side of the building, will be found to slope to such an 
extent that one end of the risers and treads are nearly 
an inch lower than the other end. This is a very com- 
mon and serious defect with costly buildings in every 
part of our populous cities. People are in such hot 
haste to finish a dwelling after the foundation is laid, 
that certain parts, which appear to be well done, after 
a few months, prove very unsatisfactory, simply because 
the joists were not thoroughly seasoned before the in- 
side work was finished. The old Connecticut rule used 
to be to allow the edifice to stand nearly one year after 
the frame was enclosed, before finishing the inside. 

Many experienced persons, in the ordinary affairs of 
life, have little idea of the extent of shrinkage of all 
kinds of timber. Some kinds of timber will shrink 
every time the surface is dressed off! Boards and 
planks that have been kept under shelter for ten years, 
when dressed out and employed as casings, or for 
making doors, will often shrink enough to form un- 
sightly cracks at every joint. Lumber that has been 
sawed for several years should never be worked up 
in an eleo-ant house before it has been kiln-dried or 

o 

exposed, for at least two weeks, to the scorching sun- 
shine and drying winds. 

Siding, or clapboards, are frequently employed to 
cover buildings before they are thoroughly seasoned. 
The result is, many of them are checked from end to 
end by the contraction of the boards, from the middle 
to the nails that secure them to the studs of the build- 
ing. It is a common occurrence for siding to split 



102 todd's countet homes. 

badly each way from the nails, for which the workman 
who drove the nails is censm^ed ; whereas the real 
cause of the cleft is attributable to shrinkage after the 
boards were secured in their places. 

The wainscoting and floor-boards of kitchens fre- 
quently shrink out of the matching, thus rendering a 
room as open as a basket, when the joints should be 
water-tight ; and they would continue to remain tight 
for an age, were the boards heated thoroughly in a 
kiln, or in a stove-room, before they are secured in their 
places. Let it be borne in mind that seasoned lumber 
will shrink after it is worked up, unless kiln-dried. 

A neighbor near my residence covered his house 
with seasoned pine boards ; and in less than one month 
after they were nailed on, almost every board had 
shrunk out of the matching. Unless the lumber for 
the outside covering of a barn, or any other building, 
can be exposed to the sun for a month or more, or 
kiln-dried, it will be found an excellent and satisfactory 
practice to secure the boards with one or two small 
nails to the side of the frame, and let them have an 
opportunity to shrink for a month or more ; then re- 
joint the edges, drive the boards together, let the 
paint-brush follow the hammer in quick succession, and 
the inmates of a dwelling will not be heard to complain 
of airy-walls. Dealers in lumber, and sometimes build- 
ers, who know better, will assure the proprietor of a 
building that lumber is seasoned as much as is really 
necessary. But one month after a job has been fin- 
ished often reveals gaping joints and unsightly cracks 
in wood-work that ought not to shrink any more than 
the material of which a piece of costly furniture is 



THE HEIGHT OF BUILDINGS. 103 

made. Nothing detracts so much from the elegance 
and apparent cash value of a costly dwelling-housCj as 
floors that are shrunk out of the matching, contracted 
door panels and gaping joints, where they ought to 
be water-tight, open joints in the wainscoting, and 
shrunken casings about both windows and doors. Such 
things are a disfiguring blotch in a neat house. 

THE HEIGHT OF BUILDINGS. 

Now that horse-forks for elevating hay, grain, and 
straw have come into general use, farmers can occupy 
the attic of a high barn quite as adviintageously as a 
building with only twelve feet posts. The great facility 
with which crops can now be pitched tw^enty, or even 
thirty feet, has removed all objection to a barn with 
high posts. 

In order, therefore, to secure the advantages of a 
spacious and commodious barn, let the posts be twenty- 
four or more feet long. The expense of roofing is no 
more for a high building than for a low one. A high 
barn affords a large amount of convenient space, which, 
if jjroperly arranged, can be occupied in a most advan- 
tageous manner. If a barn is too low, let the entire 
superstructure above the sills be elevated to the de- 
sired height with jack-screws, and let the posts or studs 
be spliced. When the lower rooms of a dwelling-house 
are unsatisfactorily low, it will not be found an expen- 
sive job to elevate the superstructure one or more feet, 
and to splice all the posts and studs at the lower ends. 

The height of dwelling-houses, and the height of 
rooms within, is a consideration which must be regu- 
lated somewhat by the length and breadth of the 
building. Few builders err by making rooms too high, 



104 todd's country homes. 

as high rooms are always far more pleasant and health- 
ful for the occupants than apartments that are but a 
trifle higher than the length of a tall man. 

Buildings for stables are often made unprofitably 
low. No building should be employed as a horse-stable 
which is so low that high horses can reach the upper 
wall when they throw up their heads. The height of 
sheds, beneath certain parts of a barn, should be suffi- 
cient to admit a team, on the surface of an annual 
deposit of the accumulations of the stable, without 
hitting their heads. 

Sheep sheds are frequently made much higher than 
is really necessary; while the apartments for neat 
cattle and horses are dangerously low. Many a valu- 
able horse has ruined himself, in a low stable, by 
striking his head against the timbers above him. 

The additional expense of making a room, or all the 
rooms of a house a foot or more higher than what may 
be called low, is a small consideration, in comparison 
with the great superiority of a high room over a low 
one. Sleeping-rooms, more than all others, ought to 
be high, on account of more complete ventilation, if 
from no other consideration. Wings and leantos of 
buildings are frequently but one story and a half; and 
very low at that ; whereas, only a few dollars for ma- 
terials and work, would have given an additional story, 
of great value. 

The upper rooms of many a cozy dwelling-house 
have been rendered very unpleasant by being made 
too low. One or two feet in the height of a house is 
really a small consideration, when compared with the 
aggregate expense of the entire edifice. It is an excel- 



SIZE OF BUILDING TIMBER. 105 

lent practice to make high rooms, between joints. 
But low rooms are like a disfiguring blotch on one's 
fair character, which can not be removed except w^ith 
great difficulty. 

SIZE OF BUILDING TIMBER. 

It is not the largest and heaviest timber that makes 
the strongest and most permanent frame. Builders 
fall into an egregious mistake by employing building 
timber unnecessarily large for the purposes required. 
A plank two inches thick and eight wide, resting on a 
substantial wall of stone or brick, will subserve as sat- 
isfactory a purpose for a sill of a large house, as a stick 
of timber eight inches square. An injudicious custom 
has induced builders to employ sometimes three times 
more timber in making a frame than is really needful. 
A builder should study and endeavor to understand the 
strength of materials. He who can save a dollar's 
worth of timber, by providing the different parts of a 
frame of the most proj)er and desirable size, saves 
another dollar besides the first one, in the labor re- 
quired to fit the timber for its appropriate place in the 
frame. There is a vast deal of philosophy and science 
in having every piece of timber in an edifice of such a 
form as to render the frame more stiff and permanent. 
Sills, summers, beams and posts, of both dwelling- 
houses and barns, are often made preposterously large. 

There is timber enough in many of the old houses 
and barns in the first settled localities of our country 
to make two buildings of the same size of the present 
one. In many country barns, the posts and beams are 
sufficiently large and strong for a bonded warehouse 
of some great seaport. Two small posts and a small 



106 todd's country homes. 

beam, if properly put together, will sustain a superin- 
cumbent pressure of surprising weight. 

THE BEST FORM OF JOISTS. 

The form of joists is a point that is not, to appear- 
ance, properly appreciated and understood. A stick of 
timber, for example, three inches by four, twelve feet 
long, would make a joist of a very unsatisfactory form. 
But let the same quantity of timber be sawed into 
joists eight inches wide, by one and a half inches thick, 
and it will sustain double the weight, with less spring 
or deflection. In order to give desirable solidity to any 
floor, the joists must be wide, or deep up and down. 

Inch boards one foot wide, and sixteen or eighteen 
feet long, would make joists that would spring but 
little ; whereas, let joists of the same length and six 
inches wide be employed, each containing the same 
amount of timber as a board, and a floor laid on them 
would spring up and down to such an extent as to 
render the room exceedingly unpleasant to live in. 

Joists sixteen feet Ions: should never be less than 
eight inches wide. Ten inches wide would be prefer- 
able. Joists eight or ten feet long will be correspond- 
ingly stiff, if they are only six or seven inches wide. 
Let it be borne in mind, that joists and beams should 
be wide, up and down, whether they are narrow or 
broad. Before the floor is laid, let the joists be 
strongly cross-bridged. If joists are not cross-bridged, 
the floor will spring, when a person walks across it, to 
such an extent as to shake the entire dwelling. 

HOW TO BUILD A CHEAP HOUSE FOR A BEGINNER. 

The aggregate expense of erecting a decent dwell- 
ing is usually so enormous that a person of moderate 



HOW TO BUILD A CHEAP HOUSE. 107 

means will often be so discouraged at the comtempla- 
tion of startling bills for items, that he at once re- 
solves to abandon the idea of building. Dealers in 
lumber and building materials often allow themselves 
to take undue advantage of the ignorance and inex- 
perience of persons who have not a definite idea of the 
general requirements and minute details of even a 
small house. To aid beginners in securing a comfort- 
able habitation for a few months, or for a year or two, 
when the pecuniary means are quite small, it is pro- 
posed to record some practical directions in selecting 
lumber and in completing the superstructure, without 
being swindled out of twice the value of the edifice 
required. 

We will suppose, for example, that one desires to 
erect at once a small, cheap, and comfortable dwelling, 
that will accommodate four to six persons, at a distance 
of several miles beyond the borders of any settlement. 
His cash capital does not exceed six hundred dollars. 
A small house is desired within one month, which can 
be erected without absorbing the last dollar of this 
limited revenue. Can it be done ? Yes, we say ; done 
with as much facility as a backwoodsman can split out 
a thousand rails and build forty rods of fence. And 
we will tell what to do and how to do it, so that a 
dwelling maybe commenced on the middle of October, 
and by the first of November be ready for occupancy, 
without expending three hundred dollars. 

In numerous instances, a poor man jDurchases a small 
place, at a distance from a convenient boarding-place, 
and wants only a small edifice, for a few months, until 
something more desirable can be erected. A small 




108 todd's countey homes. 

family, of three or four persons, could live in such a 
cozy domicile, in case of urgent necessity, during the 
entire summer, without having the building plastered. 
Then this little extemporaneous cottage, which only a 
sprinkling of love will render the dearest spot on earth, 
may afterward be employed for a work-shojD or store- 
house, or it can be allowed to remain where it was 
erected, and be joined to the upright part of a larger 

dwelling as a wash-room, 
kitchen, or wood-house. Such 
a building may be conven- 
iently employed for a vari- 
ety of useful purposes. But 
the grand point is, to have it 
'pK)NEEK^lx>TTAGE. subscrvc a satisfactory pur- 

pose in the present exigency, thus saving a large pro- 
portion of limited means at a period when to a begin- 
ner every available dollar seems to play a wonderful 
part. 

As the prices of building material vary largely in 
different localities, the cost of each item can be com- 
puted according to the rates in each market, thus en- 
abling persons in different parts of the country to pur- 
chase the required bill of materials, place them on a 
couple of wagons, transport them twenty miles from 
any human habitation, and develop a cozy cottage in 
a few days. 

Let the frame be of the " balloon style " of architec- 
ture, rather than of large sills, posts, and heavy beams, 
all of which will be found much more expensive in 
every respect, and at the same time will not make a 
building so strong and stiff as if the frame were of the 



A BILL OF MATERIALS. 109 

balloon style, without posts, beams, girders, and heavy 
sills. 

Those who have always been accustomed to see large 
timbers employed in the erection of edifices of all 
descriptions may experience a lack of confidence in a 
balloon frame. But, if a person having a fair under- 
standing of the strength of materials will only investi- 
gate and compare the merits and demerits of a framed 
building and a balloon frame, he will perceive at once 
that the latter will be much stiflfer and stronger, in 
every respect, than a frame made of large timbers, 
united by means of mortises and tenons. In such a 
balloon frame as it is proposed to erect, such a thing 
as a mortise or tenon will not be required. 

A BILL OF MATERIALS. 

It is proposed to erect the building on several small 
posts, rather than on a foundation-wall, as the super- 
structure is required for immediate occupancy. After 
the building is finished, the excavation for the cellar 
may be made, first in the middle and at one end, and 
the wall carried up to the sill, and then at the other 
end. But if stones or bricks can be obtained conven- 
iently, and the house is to remain as a wing to a larger 
superstructure, let a foundation wall of brick or stone 
be laid before the sills are placed in position. But if 
the sills are to be supported by posts, there should be 
five on a side, and one at the middle of each end, 
making in all twelve posts, four by four inches square, 
and three and half feet in length, to be set in the 
ground not less than two feet, with {he lower end of 
each resting on a flat stone or piece of plank one foot 
square. The beginner may take a copy of the follow- 



110 todd's country homes. 

ing bill, without consulting a professional architect, go 
to the luniber-yard and hardware store, and purchase 
every item for his cottage, with the assurance that 
there will be no lack of necessary materials, and but a 
small amount of surplus lumber, that may be employed 
for some other purpose. The bill will require, then— 

FEET. 

3 sticks, 4x4 inches, 14 feet long, for posts, 60 

1 plank 12 feet long, to saw in pieces, 24 

2 sills 16 feet long, 4x4, 43 
24 joists 2x7 inches, 12 feot long, for lower and the upper floor, 

18 inches apart, 336 

4 scantling 1 6 feet long, 2x3 inches, 2 of which are for plates, and 

2 for supports for the ends of the chamber floor joists, 32 

26 pieces for rafters, 10 feet long, 2x4 inches square, 180 
13 " collar beams," 8 feet long, 1x5 inches, to nail from one rafter 

to another, 52 

6 studs, 13 feet long, 2x3 inches, around doors and windows, 42 

360 feet of roof-boards, 360 



Total of coarse lumber, 1,129 

450 feet of flooring, 16 feet long, planed and matched, 450 

Weatherboards, 8 inches wide, planed on one side, and matched, 1,000 

10 boards, 16 feet long, 10 or 12 inches wide, for stairs and shelves, 160 

4 pieces for verge-boards, 10 feet long, 1x4 inches, 14 

Total of second quality lumber, 1,524 

ITEMS COMPDTED IN CASH. 

The 1,129 feet of rough lumber, computed at 2 cents per foot, 
which is more than such lumber will cost in many localities, 
will amount to $22 58 

The 1,524 feet of matched lumber, dressed on one side, at 3 

cents per foot, will cost, 45 72 

About 3, 5<)0 shinglos,»18 inches long, 14 00 

20 pounds shingle-nails, at 7 cents, 1 40 

50 pounds eight-penny nails, at 7 cents, 3 50 

15 pounds ten-penny nails, at 7 cents, 1 05 



A BILL OF MATEKIALS. Ill 

4 window-frames, and making, $9 50 

Sash and glass for 4 windows, 6 00 

1 batten door and casings, latch, etc., 3 50 

2 gallons of boiled oil, $2.25, and 1 pail of good white lead, $2.50, 4 75 
300 bricks for chimney and mortar, and laying-up, 5 50 
Joiner $3 per day, and helper $1 per day, for six days, which is 

a liberal estimate of time, ' 24 00 



Total expense, ' $141 50 

In some localities, the expense will exceed the fore- 
going amount. In others, where labor and lumber are 
cheaper, the cost will of course be less. But in each 
locality, the price can be computed to suit the locality. 
An active joiner and an ambitious helper, who can saw 
off a board to a mark, and drive nails, will complete 
such a house in less than six days ; while the joiner 
who has no other job on hand, and is anxious to " spin 
out " as much time as possible, will spend twenty days 
in performing a small job that he has ability to com- 
plete in six days. 

In case the house is to be erected where small round 
sticks of timber can be readily obtained for foundation 
posts, the square timber alluded to may be dispensed 
with. If rails or poles can not be obtained for staging, 
a few scantling, fourteen feet long, must be purchased 
for that purpose. All the foregoing materials may be 
carried on three ordinary two-horse wagons to a dis- 
tance of several miles, with a joiner and his tools. 
Many pioneers, at the West, can purchase the amount 
of lumber required, in Chicago, for example, and have 
the materials forwarded to their destination, with the 
satisfactory assurance, that they will have the materials 
requisite to build a little cottage, and not enough more 
on hand, after the edifice is finished, to build half of 



112 todd's country homes. 

•another house. A cousin of mine, after conferring 
with me, before he went to Illinois, as to the most 
practicable and feasible way of getting a place for his 
family to sleep, after he arrived where he expected to 
live, purchased his bill of materials, had them shipped 
by railroad, then carted thftm several miles, with two 
wagons ; and in less than six hours after the lumber 
was unloaded, they were moving into their new 
domicile, far away on the prairie. 

COMMENCING OPERATIONS. 

If the lumber is seasoned as it should be, every board 
should be spread out in the sun for six days at least, 
before the floors are laid or the sides are put up. If 
this sufri2;estion be not heeded, even seasoned lumber 

DO ^ 

will shrink nearly or quite out of the matching in a few 
weeks. During a few rainy days let the dry boards be 
piled up closely, and covered with the widest, to carry 
off the rain. Then, after the storm is over, let the 
lumber be spread out again in the sun. With the fol- 
lowing instructions, an active young man who is 
scarcely half a joiner wdll be able to put up a cottage 
with satisfactory dispatch. 

After the foundation-posts have been set firmly in 
the ground, and the two sills placed on the top of 
them, lay on the joists, one and a half feet apart, from 
center to center, and nail them to the sills. Saw off 
the ends square with the outside of the sills. Now set 
up a board at each corner on both of the long sides of 
the foundation, nail the bottom to the sill, plumb and 
stale-aft them. Let a piece of rough board be set np 
near the middle of each side, the lower ends nailed to 
the sills, and the middle stale-afted. Now put up ca 



COMMENCING OPERATIONS. 113 

piece of scantling sixteen feet long, one inch by three 
square, seven and one-half feet from the top of the 
lower joists, as a support for the ends of the joists of 
the upper floor. Let this be secured by driving nails 
through the corner boards that have been plumbed, 
into it. After the weather boards on both sides of the 
building have been put in their places, and the lower 
ends nailed into the sills, and nailed firmly to the 
scantling that supports the chamber floor joists, let the 
ends of the upper joists be sawed off square, and placed 
on these cleat supports, sixteen inches apart. Then 
drive several nails through the weather-boards into 
the ends of each joist. If the ends of the joists be 
sawed off squarely, the building, when finished, will be 
much stiffer, than if the frame were made of large tim- 
bers secured with tenons and mortises. The chamber 
floor may now be laid ; a scantling two by three inches 
nailed firmly to the inside of the top of the boards, for 
plates, on each side of the house, and the rafters and 
roof put on. 

As a substitute for shingles, there are several kinds 
of paper felting, saturated with coal tar or other chem- 
icals, which may be employed at a very cheap rate, 
and which may be covered, after the house is finished, 
with a coat of plastic slate, which will be cheaper than 
shingles. In such a case, the roof might be made with 
less pitch than for shingles. In many parts of the 
country "roofing-paper" is employed instead of shin- 
gles. Such paper is very strong, and impervious to 
water, so that after a heavy coat of paint is applied to 
the surface, the roof will be as tight as tin, and much 
cheaper than either tin or shingles. 



114 todd's country homes. 

The materials required for lathing and plastering 
will be fiirring-pieces, two inches square, sixteen inches 
apart ; about twenty bunches of lath ; twenty pounds 
of lath-nails ; one bushel of hair; ten bushels of stone 
lime ; nine boards twelve feet long and six wide for 
base ; and a mason two days to do the plastering. 
Any one can compute the cost of all these materials, 
at prices to suit his own locality. This style of house 
will be cheaper and stronger, than a balloon-frame 
covered with clapboards. In localities where lumber 
is much cheaper than I have here computed the cost, 
a comfortable little cottage can be erected amazingly 
cheap. Any man who has ingenuity enough to plumb 
a corner-board, saw off a plank square, and drive a nail 
true, can be his own builder* Two active carpenters 
can erect such a cottage, and do the work well, almost 
as soon as good old Jonah's gourd sprung into life, 
withered and died. 

Thus for, in the erection of this cottage, I have made 
no account of the finish on the gable ends, as the verge- 
boards are supposed to be plain and nailed to the raft- 
ers. At the eaves, the ends of the rafters project, 
having only a plain facia three inches wide, nailed to 
the ends. The ends of the rafters should be planed 
and painted. 

A POOR MAN'S COTTAGE. 

The illustration of a cottage, under this head, repre- 
sents a house that I employed men to build, for a poor 
man, with a small family. The cottage cost me much 
more than such a building should cost; because, I 
could not be on hand to superintend the work. I was 
obliged to write to my M^orkmen, while I remained in 



A POOK MAN S COTTAGE. 



115 




New York, and tell them what I desired to have them 
do. Had I been near by, where I could have super- 
vised the work, once or twice daily, the expense for 
labor, would have been much less than it was. Yet, 
the experiment will be of value to others, as I shall 
give a bill of all the ma- 
terials, with the cost of 
each. Then, others can 
make use of the same 
bill, should they desire 
a cottage similar to this 
one. For a small fam- 
ily, having only a few a cheap cottage. 
hundred dollars to invest in a dwelling-house, this 
style of architecture and arrangement of the rooms, 
will be as satisfactory, as almost any cheap cottage 
that a poor man can devise. The length is 28 by 16 
feet. Tho lower part is divided into two rooms, by 
the stairs and cellar-way. By this arrangement, there 
are two rooms 16 by 12 1 feet square. The stair-way 
occupies about three feet, including the studding, which 
is two inches thick on both sides of box stairs. The 
height of this house is sixteen feet. The upper part is 
divided into four bedrooms, 8 by 11 feet, with a win- 
dow in each room. There is a hall, up stairs, about six 
feet wide, from which all the rooms can be entered. 
The middle window, up stairs, lights the hall. Should 
it be deemed desirable, the upper part may be divided 
into either two, or three rooms, as well as four. There 
are but two outside doors, which are 6| feet long by 
2^ feet wide. The back door is nearly opposite the 
front door. The cellar is under the entire house ; and 



116 todd's country homes. 

is six and a half feet in the clear, with two windows 
at one end, and an outside door-way for entering the 
cellar. Should it be desirable to have more room, a 
wing, similar to the illustration of the Pioneer's Cot- 
tage, on preceding page, may be erected in the rear 
of this upright part ; or a lean-to may be built the 
entire length of the house, on the bacl^ side. Every 
part of this house was built of fliir materials. The 
lumber was not of the first quality ; neitlier was it poor, 
knotty and shaky. The joists are 2 by 8 inches, and, 
16 inches apart, from center to center, so that four-feet 
lath would extend from one to another without being 
eawed off to fit. The studding is 2 by 4 inches. But, 
were I to build another such house, the studs should 
be only 1 by 4 inches, as studs" of that size would be 
sufficiently strong for such a dwelling ; and the expense 
would be only half as much, for the studding. The 
outside is covered with clapboards, six inches wide. 
The four lower windows are fifteen lights, of 8 by 10 
panes; and the upper windows are twelve lights, of 8 
by 10- glass. The roof is covered with plastic slate. 
The joist-rafters are made of 2 by 8 inch joists, 18 feet 
long, the ends projecting beyond the j)lates one foot 
on each side. The joist-rafters were taken to the ma- 
chine shop, and the upper corners sawed off slanting, 
from each end to the middle. Consequently, every 
joist-rafter is 2 by 8 inches at the middle, and 2 by 1, 
at each end. The slant gives only seven inches pitch 
to the roof, which is sufficient for plastic slate or tin. 
The joist-rafters are just as strong of this form, as if 
those upper corners were not sawed off. The founda- 
tion walls are brick, eight inches thick, which made a 



A POOR man's cottage. 117 

wall sufficiently strong for sustaining such a superstruc- 
ture. All the bricks below the surface of the ground 
should be laid in hydraulic mortar. (See mortar.) 
Great care should also be exercised, to use no brick be- 
low ground that will disintegrate. 

A BILL OF NECESSARY MATERIALS FOR ERECTING SUCH A 

COTTAGE. 
Excavating for cellar, $7 00 

Eight thousand bricks delivered, at $11 50, 92 00 

Twenty bushels of lime, 10 00 

Masons and tender, at $5 per 1,000, 40 00 

Four sticks 2 by 8 inches, 14 ft. long, for side sills, and two for 

end sills, 2 by 8 inches, 16 ft. long, at $30 per 1,000 feet, 3 51 

Forty-four joists, 2 by 8 inches, 16 ft. long, for the first and the 

second floors, 27 72 

Twenty-two rafter joists, 2 by 8 inches, 18 ft. long, at three cents 

per foot, 15 84 

Seventy pieces for plates and studs, 16 ft. long, 2 by 4 inches 

square, 21 GO 

Thirteen hundred feet of clapboards, at three cents per foot, 39 00 

Fourteen hundred feet flooring and roofing, matched, 42 00 

Twelve boards, 16 ft. long, for cornice, 6 00 

Eighteen boards for base, 6 inches wide and 16 ft. long, 1 62 

Two pieces of plank, 2 by 7 inches, 16 ft. long, for window sills, 

planed, • 1 12 

It will require a strip for the jambs and face-casings, about 40 
feet long, for each window, of which there are nine. Then 
there are nine doors, requiring about three pieces, 16 ft. long 
and 1 by 4 inches wide, for each door, or about sixty pieces, 
1 by 4 inches and 16 ft. long, for casings, planed on one side, 
at three cents per foot, 8 10 

Six pieces, 16 ft. long, 3 by 1 inches, planed on one side, for 

the facia or verge-boards. 75 

Three hundred feet of boards, 12 or 16 ft. long, half of it 8 
inches wide, for the risers of the stairs, and half of it 9 inches 
wide, for the treads, 9 00 

Ten pieces, 16 ft. long, 4 by 1 1-4 inches, for water table, or 

outside base, and for comer boards, 1 75 



118 todd's country homes. 

Paper for roofing, 

Plastic slate roofing, 1 bbl., 

Putting it on the roof, 

One hundred and twenty lights sash, at six cents each, 

Two boxes glass, at $3 50, 

Ten Ib.s. putty and glaziers' points, 

Forty-eight bunches of four-feet lath, at $4 90 per 1,000, includ- 
ing freight. 

Thirty pounds lath-nails, at seven cents per pound, 

One keg of eight-penny and one keg of ten-penny nails, at six 
cents per pound of 100 each, 

Eight barrels of lime for plastering, at $1 25, 

Three hundred feet of boards, and thirty of timber, for the ve- 
randa, at three cents per foot, 

Four panel-doors, at $2 75 each, 

Lumber for eight batten doors, including cellar-doors, say 200 
feet, at four cents per foot. 

Lumber and sashes for cellar-windows. 

Joiner-work (which is too much,) 

Hinges, or butts, for twelve doors. 

One gross inch-screws, for hinges. 

Three gross 1 1-2 inch screws, for batten-doors, at seventy-five 
cents per gross. 

Eight gallons of oil, at SI, 

Three pails of white lead, at $2 60, 

Painting two coats and glazing, 

Eight door latches. 

Two door-knobs and lock, 

Window-fastenings, 

Lathing, twenty-five cents per 100 lath. 

Plastering, mixing mortar and tending masons, 

Hair for mortar, two bushels, 

Add freight and cartage. 

Amount, $615 77 

I have computed two boxes of glass, although only 

about one and one-half are requisite. But two boxes 

w ill not cost so much as the glass of a box and one-half, 



$2 30 


7 


00 


3 


00 


7 


20 


7 


00 




60 


23 


52 


2 


10 


12 


00 


10 


00 


9 


90 


11 


00 


8 


00 


3 


50 


88 


00 


1 


20 




60 


2 


25 


8 


00 


7 


80 


21 


00 




80 




75 




54 


12 


00 


23 


00 


1 


50 


14 


80 



A POOR man's cottage. 119 

when purchased by the pane. I have made no account 
of the sand, as it cost nothing, having been obtained 
where the celhir was dug. 

It will be perceived that when the two foregoing 
structures are placed together, they will form a con- 
venient and commodious home for any small family, 
who are not afflicted with that direful curse of the 
human family — wicked pride. In case one could have 
access to timber on his own land, near a saw-mill, such 
a dwelling could be built astonishingly cheap. A 
faithful joiner would do the joiner work in a shorter 
time than I have indicated in the bill ; and an ingen- 
ious man who is not half a joiner, could do much of 
the work with his own hands. 



CHAPTER III. 

KURAL ARCHITECTURE. 

Hazel-Dell Cottage— A Cheap Italian Villa— Oyster Shell Villa— Roofs 
of Dwellings — Bracket Finish — Plastic Slate Roofing — Dirt Catcher — 
Re-shingling Old Roofs — Doors — Windows — Flooring — Preservation 
of Timber — Concrete Walls — Park Cottage — Morning Glory Cot- 
tage — Clerks' Cottage — Cobble-stone Houses — Mechanics' Cottage — 
Suburban Cottage — Making Mortar — Mason Work in Cold Weather. 

THE HAZEL-DELL COTTAGE. 




Fig. 1. — PERSPECTIVK OF THE COTTAGE. 

This cozy little domicile is designed for a small family. 
The building consists of an upright part, fifteen feet 



THE HAZEL-DELL COTTAGE. 



121 



wide, and twenty-six feet long, with a rear part twelve 
feet by sixteen square, with a lean-to in the corner, 
which furnishes a passage-way from the front parlor to 
the kitchen. 

The plan will nearly explain itself. P S, Fig. 2, is 
a passage from the porch, 4 ft. wide. P, parlor, 12 by 
15 ft. D, dining-room, 111 by 13 ft., with a china 
closet, 3 by 3 ft. P S, rear passage to kitchen, 4 ft. 
wide, communicating with the stairs to the second 
floor, and C C, a coat closet, 3 by 3 ft. K, kitchen, 12 
by 12 ft. P Y, pantry, 6 by 12 ft. S, kitchen, sink 
and pump. 





Fig. 2. 

PLAN OF THE FIRST FLOOR. 



Fig. 3. 

PLAN OF THE SECOND FLOOR. 



Fig. 3, P S, passage, 3 to 5 ft. wide communicating 
with the bedroom C, 10 by 12 ft. over dining-room, 
and C, bedroom, 12 by 15 ft., over parlor. B R, bath- 
room, 6 by 6 ft. S R, servants' room, 8 by 12 ft. 
C L are closets. 

The foundations ai:e of stone, with a cellar built un- 
der the extension. The first story is 9 feet high, the 
second story is 9 feet in the middle, and 4 at the sides 
of the rooms. The lower part weather-boarded, hori- 
zontally, and the upper part, from the plates, boarded 
vertically, and furred off from the wall four inches, and 



122 todd's country homes. 

terminated with a moulding and facia. The roofs pro- 
ject boldly at an angle of 45 degrees 20 and 24 inches 
over the walls, and are covered with pine shingles. 

The arrangement of rooms on both floors may be 
varied from this plan, so as to be more satisfactory to 
some persons than the design herewith given. The 
passage-way leading into the parlor from the front door, 
might be dispensed with entirely. Or, if a small lobby 
is desirable, let it be made near the corner of the room. 
The china closet, which is at the front of the house, 
would be flxr more convenient if placed on the side of 
the room nearest the kitchen. 

Such a house may be erected of wood, bricks, stone, 
or concrete, for $1,000 to |2,000, according to the lo- 
cality. In the vicinity of New York, where labor is 
expensive and the price of lumber high, the expense 
would amount to about |2,000. A few hundred miles 
distant, if a person were a discreet and economical 
manager, a house of this style could be erected for 
$1,000 to $1,200. If cobble-stones could be gathered 
near by, the building would not cost more than $1,000 
in certain localities. 

A CHEAP ITALIAN VILLA. 

The perspective herewith given. Fig. 1, represents 
a commodious and cheap villa of the Italian style of 
aiTchitecture. I am sure that very many people, who 
desire simple, and yet beautiful buildings, will be 
pleased with this illustration, which in appearance is 
tasteful, without the common fault of excessive orna- 
mentation, while the arrangement is exceedingly con- 
venient. The dinino:-room is well situated in its rela- 
tion to both kitchen and parlor, and two small bed- 



A CHEAP ITALIAN VILLA. 



123 



rooms are provided for on the ground floor ; but one 
large sleeping-room, in place of two, would please 
many families better. This style of architecture has 
many points of excellence to recommend it. Many 
persons admire the appearance of a cottage that is 
enclosed with boards put on vertically, far more than if 
the boards run horizontally. Besides this, if the boards 
be seasoned, as they always should be, so that they 




Fig. 1. PERSPECTIVE OF THE REAR. 



will not shrink out of the matching, this style of cov- 
ering will make a tighter house, than if the sides were 
covered with clapboards. 

Should it be thought desirable, a Gothic roof might 
be employed, instead of a roof so flat as is shown by 
the illustration. Yet, by having a bracket finish, simi- 
lar to the pattern shown on a succeeding page, and a 
projecting roof, as represented by the illustration, the 



124 



TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 



villa would present a very tasty and elegant appear- 
ance. A heavy bracket finish, with a roof projecting 
not less than two feet, is by no means a costly orna- 
mentation ; and yet, it is so elegant as to please almost 
every person, who possesses correct notions of the re- 
quirements of rural architecture. The outside boards 
for such a house should not be more than ten inches 
wide. Before the battens are nailed on, a coat of paint 
should be applied to both the boards and the battens. 

It is scarcely neces- 
sary for me to explain 
the arrangement of the 
rooms on the ground 
floor, as the diagram 
shows distinctly the di- 
B.RooM I mensions of every apart- 
ment. By adding the 
dimensions of each room, 
the size of each part 
may be readily deter- 
mined. The tower, it 
will be understood, is 
built over the porch. 

Fig. 2.— PLAN OF GKOUND FLOOR. 9 by 9 fCCt, wllicll iS 

larger than necessary. In the estimation of some 
builders, the tower will be considered a needless ex- 
pense. The lower story forms the open porch ; the 
second may be used as a library or bedroom ; and the 
third, as an observatory, a summer sleeping-room, or a 
room for drying herbs, etc., and as a means of reaching 
the roof, in case of fire. It is the most picturesque 
and not least valuable part of the house. At all events, 




A CHEAP ITALIAN VILLA. 



125 



this style of architecture requires that appendage to 
improve the appearance of the edifice, and to render 
it complete. 



DAIRY H. 




Plan B. — A, wood-house ; B, kitchen ; C, parlor ; D, hall ; E, porch ; F, sitting- 
room ; G, G, bedroom ; a, pantry ; b, b, closets. 

Fig. 3 represents the apartments of the same edifice 
arranged differently from the first plan, or Fig. 2. 
The arrangement cannot fail to meet the requirements 
of numerous families who desire a neat and substantial 
villa, which can be erected for a moderate sum. 

Fig. 4 (p. 126) represents the manner of preparing 
the frame. The sill is represented as six inches thick. 
But, if a substantial wall be carried up from the bot- 
tom of the cellar, the sills need not be more than two 
inches in thickness. The lower ends of the studs are 
secured by nails toed-in, as represented in the illustra- 



126 



TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 



tion. The ribs are placed diagonally at an angle of 
forty-five degrees, and nailed to the studs at each in- 
tersection. These ribs serve as braces to the building, 
besides acting as supports for the outside boarding. 
It will be seen that it re- 
quires no more lumber for the 
ribs placed diagonally than 
to put them on horizon- 
tally ; yet they make the 
building much stifFer. This 
house might be rolled over^^^x 
and not be crushed, pro- \ 
vided every stud, joist, and ^^r 
rib and board was nailed as "^|-, 




■IWM _J Hi?- 



securely as it should be. All riSj^4:J^;^,::i^'-^ 

the loists are 18 feet lonac " \..''^^ 

2 by 8 inches, and 16 inches arrangement of studs and ribs. 

apart, so that the lower joists will rise 2 inches above 

the sills, which are 6 by 8 inches. 

COST OF CONSTRUCTION. 

The cost of erecting such a dwelling-house, will de- 
pend entirely on the locality. But almost any person 
wdio has a fair idea of the lumber required in construct- 
ing a house ; can make out a bill of all the materials, 
and compute the cost of everything, in his locality, 
even the labor of the different workmen, within fifty 
dollars, before a blow has been struck towards the con- 
struction of any part of the building. 

Let me urge a single point in regard to the season- 
ing of the boards before they are nailed on. I well 
remember a house that w^as covered with boards placed 
vertically before they had been sunned thoroughly. 



AN OYSTER-SHELL VILLA. 



127 



The result was, that almost every board shrunk out of 
the matching; and the cracks were so large, and ad- 
mitted so much rain during a driving storm, that the 
entire building had to be covered with clapboards. A 
little care in sunning the boards, before they were put 
on, would have saved several hundred dollars in cash, 
besides damage to the walls. 

AN OYSTER-SHELL VILLA. 

The beautiful country villa represented by the ac- 
companying perspective, was erected, in 1856, on the 




PERSPECTIVE OF OTSTER-SHETX VILLA. 



outskirts of "the City of Elms" (New Haven,) Conn., 
by my friend, Solomon Mead, inventor of Mead's coni- 
cal plow. The novel feature in the construction of 
this elegant edifice, is, the outside walls are composed 
chiefly of oyster-shells, mingled with mortar and formed 
into a wall similar to concrete. I have seen this build- 
ig ; and I ever admired its symmetrical proportions ; 



mir 



and because its walls were built of such rare material, 



128 todd's country homes. 

subserving such an excellent purpose, I feel assured 
that my readers will feel a deep interest in looking at 
this picture of the perspective, and in thinking of the 
commendable ingenuity of Mr. Mead, who superin- 
tended its construction. 

The house measures 40 ft. by 36 ft. on the ground, 
with a continuous veranda, on every side. The height 
of the walls is 26 feet, to the rafters, on the top of the 
plate. The height of the first story is 10 feet. The 
second story is 8 feet. The third story is about 8 feet. 
Mr. Mead has kindly furnished the following fiicts : 

"The solid walls are one foot thick all the way up. 
The sides of doors and windows and tops of the same 
were laid with bricks, projecting about one inch and 
one-half from the main wall. The chief jDart of the 
building material was oyster-shells. I drew 25 loads 
or so of small stones for building the house, before I 
thought of the shells. When I first thought of using 
the shells, I had never heard of such a house, nor have 
I known of any other being built in this vicinity. The 
shells cost me less than the expense of picking up the 
stones wovild have been, for the same building, as the 
shells could be shoveled, when put in a suitable place 
for shoveling, and thus greatly advance the work. The 
shells have also this advantage, they hold the wall to- 
gether better, and are not so heavy for a wall; and 
the wall is therefore, not so liable to crack from its own 
weight. I used about 2,500 bushels of shells for the 
walls, with about 25 loads of small stones, besides the 
bricks around the doors and windows. The cost of 
shells was about two cents per bushel, delivered on the 
ground, or $50.00. Oyster-shell lime, sand, water, and 



AN OYSTER-SHELL VILLA. 129 

about ten barrels of cement, were required for each 
story. The only object of cement was to cause the 
walls to dry a little faster, and thus to make a little 
more rapid progress in construction. The oyster-shell 
lime was readily obtained at about six cents per bushel. 

'• The plan of construction was something like this : 
A large mortar bed was made about eight feet wide 
and sixteen feet long, on which was wheeled about 
eight or ten barrels of shell-lime, about twice as much 
sand, and fine gravel, which was mixed into a soft mor- 
tar by a plenty of water and the use of a shovel and 
hoe. 

"The shells were then wheeled or shoveled into this 
bed, as many as the mortar would cover and fill. The 
shells and mortar were then shoveled over, mixing; the 
mortar through the shells, which prepared the contents 
of the bed for the curb in which the wall was first 
put up." 

After the foundation w^all was laid, straight-edged 
joists were set up perpendicularly, on both sides of the 
place where the wall was to be made. As the wall was 
one foot thick, the upright timbers were sixteen inches 
apart on the inside. Boards were then placed on the 
inside of the uprights, with a narrow strip of inch-board 
Jjetween every upright and the main board, thus form- 
ing a mould, which was filled with the mortar and shells. 
When the material had become satisfactorily hard, the 
strips of inch-board between the uprights and the main 
boards were removed, so that the mould-boards could 
be raised without disturbing the wall. As the wall pro- 
gressed, narrow strips of boards, about two and one-half 
inches wide, were laid in the inside part of the wall, 



130 todd's country homes. 

say two feet apart, to which the furring was nailed. 
The furring consisted of strips of boards, about two 
inches wide. On the top of the wall, as the summit of 
each story was reached, strips of boards, about five 
inches wide, were laid on the wall, on the inside, for 
supporting the ends of the joists. In the upper edge 
of every third joist, a strong pin Avas inserted, standing 
outward into the wall, for the purpose of keeping the 
wall from spreading. Mr. Mead says: "This house is 
dryer than any dwelling within my knowledge. The 
walls are perfectly sound and tight ; and I know of no 
objection to this plan of building, except the limit of 
time to the most favorable period of the season, for 
mortar to dry. It is impossible to complete a house of 
such material, in a few weeks, as every course of mortar 
must have sufficient time to dry, before it w411 be safe 
to place more weight above it. It is important that 
the walls should have ample time to dry through and 
through before winter." 

I have thought of another plan, which is to make 
the shells and mortar into blocks, say a foot square, and 
two or three feet long. By putting the same into 
moulds of suitable size, the house could be built in a 
short time, by having the blocks seasoned one year be- 
fore they are to be laid up. The blocks could then be 
laid up very rapidly; and for anything I can perceive, 
would make a good Avail. As the walls were being built, 
several pieces of scantling, two by three, Avere laid in 
the middle of the bed over a windoAA^, eighteen inches 
above it, six or eight feet long. Short pieces nailed 
to the scantling helped to give it adhesion. These 
pieces Avere bedded in the Avail and covered AA-ith shells 



AN OYSTER-SHELL VILLA. 131 

and mortar, and thus became a part of the wall. The 
pieces of scantling bind the wall together. A few sncli 
were placed about the corners and nailed there, thus 
securing the position of the wall as well as practicable. 
After the roof was put on, the outside was covered with 
stucco, or mastic, and afterwards painted. (See mastic 
in the glossary, front part of this book.) 

The manner of computing the cost of such a dwell- 
ing will be, to estimate the number of joists required 
for each floor. Then compute the amount of flooring 
requisite for each story. Next, ascertain the number 
of division studs required between the rooms of each 
story. Then, the cost of one window and one door can 
be estimated; and the amount of each multiplied by 
the number required. Then, after the style of cornice 
has been decided upon, the builder can estimate within 
one hundred feet, the quantity of lumber required for 
either a heavy box cornice, or any style of bracket fin- 
ish. The amount of roofing can also be computed, 
within a few dollars, whether the material be tin, plastic 
slate, Vermont slate, or shingles. The mastic finish on 
the outside, and the walls on the inside, may be com- 
.puted by the square yard. If a veranda be desired on 
more than one side of the edifice, let the builder make 
a fair estimate of the lumber required for a veranda on 
one side. Then, it will be easy to ascertain the cost of 
a veranda on every side. If a cupola is desired, let 
the cost of the lumber be computed, the windows, roof- 
ing, and every other item. Thus, by taking up each 
item separately, an honest builder will be able to ap- 
proximate to the aggregate cost of such an edifice, 
within fifty or eighty dollars. Any joiner who is com- 



132 todd's country homes. 

jDetent to do the wood-work, if he understands the 
fundamental rules of arithmetic, can prepare a bill of 
materials in two hours, that will surprise one, w^hen it is 
shown by figures, how cheaply such a villa can be 
erected, when oyster or clam-shells are abundant. 
Laro'e sfravel stones and small boulders will also sub- 
serve a satisfactory purpose, in lieu of shells. 

IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS TO BEGINNE-KS, WHEN BUILDING. 

It is not proposed to offer counsel to experienced 
builders, who may be . entirely flimiliar with all our 
suggestions. But the following paragraphs, some of 
which were originally penned for the "Manufacturer 
and Builder," which, for a limited period edited by 
the . writer, will be of great value to beginners, pro- 
vided they will heed the advice. Some builders will 
not practice what they know. Therefore, if a beginner 
can have the advantage of good suggestions, he will 
be able to know whether a boss-builder performs a job 
correctly, or whether he slights some portions of his 
contract. 

When you are ready to build, make a plan of your 
proposed house, and study and change it until you are 
satisfied that it can not be any better, and that the 
house built according to it, will suit all who are inter- 
ested. But be sure and make all the changes on 
paper; do not have any to make when the work is 
under way. 

Always count the cost before beginning your pur- 
chases. If you have not about money enough to finish 
the house, do not begin it ; but put what you have in 
the bank, to draw its seven per cent interest, and add 
to the sum, until you have enough. By so doing, you 



SUGGESTIONS TO BEGINNEKS. 133 

will not need to mortgage, you will receive the seven 
per cent instead of paying it, and you will save law- 
yers' fees and your peace of mind, and enjoy the oc- 
cupancy of your new domicile, far more than if you were 
perpetually harrassed with the unhappy thought, " it 
is mine, but not paid for." 

In arranging your plan, it is well to remember that 
doors which are used most in passing through a room, 
should be opposite one another, and not cross-cornered. 
The front windows should be arranged symmetrically 
with respect to the outside, and partitions inside be 
made to suit. Do not have a step between two rooms 
on the same floor, but put them all into the stairs be- 
tween stories. 

The situation of the chimney, if possible, should be 
central, so as to admit openings into all rooms. If you 
intend to let the job, get some responsible contractor 
to estimate it, and look it over yourself to see that it 
is all right. If you are to do your own work, make 
out a bill of everything that will be required, in detail, 
make your purchases, stack your lumber up to dry, 
and proceed to work. 

Since the foundation is at the bottom of everything, 
and will be the "root of all evil," if it is not a good 
one, it must receive the first and best attention. If 
you wish a good cellar, the foundation must be of 
stone, and built up in the shape of a wall, inclosing the 
cellar. The excavation must be made below the reach 
of frost; and if good solid earth is reached, the walls 
may be started from that. Two or more low windows 
should be placed in the walls, on both sides of the 
house, so as to ventilate the cellar. 



134 todd's countky homes. 

K you wish to put up brick walls, a water-table 
must be laid on the foundation-walls, consisting of cut 
stone; or if that is too expensive, of slabs of stone, 
similar to the wall, trimmed at the joints and outside 
edges, and the top beveled to shed the water. It 
should project one and one-half or two inches from the 
face of the walls. If a cellar is not an object, and 
wood is to be used for walls, the foundation may con- 
sist of oak or cedar posts, well smeared with coal-tar, 
driven below the reach of frost, and sawed off level 
at the required height. The sills should be about 
eight by eight inches, halved and pinned together at 
the corners, and securely fastened to the posts or wall. 
The lower joists should be two by eight inches, twelve 
to sixteen inches apart. Be sure and cross-bridge your 
floor-joists, before they are put out of level by scaffold- 
ing, or any other weight. Lay off the spaces on the 
sills, for doors and windows, then you may put up your 
studding, say of two by four inch scantling, set edge 
out. Put in a double stud on each side of all doors 
and windows, and at the corners of the house. The 
most expeditious way to mark the places for studs, is 
to make a measuring stick, say four or eight feet long. 
Then, if the studs are to be one foot, or sixteen inches 
apart, let the marks be indicated accordingly on the rule. 
If a joiner attempts to lay out the distances for his 
studs with a two-foot rule, unless he is extremely care- 
ful, he will make mistakes. Do not be talked into the 
very common error of beginning to build in the latter 
part of the season. 

If sand must be obtained at a distance, begin a year 
beforehand to haul it, so that there may be no delay 



KOOFS OF HOUSES. 135 

Avhen the mortar is needed. As soon as joists and 
studs are sawed, "stick them up," on the edges, to 
keep them straight. Let unusual care be exercised in 
procuring lime and cement. It is bad policy to pur- 
chase air-slacked lime, or old cement, that has lost its 
strength. Let all outside wood- work be painted, before 
the surface gets wet, as w\ater will raise the grain and 
render the work rough, wdien it is dry, thus requir- 
ing more paint. Do not suffer yourself to be talked 
into a gross deception employed by many builders, that 
it is impossible to determine how much a house will 
cost, beforehand. Builders who make such a plea, 
know better. They know that an intelligent joiner 
can compute the cost of a house, as accurately as a 
tailor can estimate the expense of a gentleman's over- 
coat. 

THE ROOF OF DWELLING-HOUSES. 

Some persons have become so much accustomed to 
seeing a roof, that a house without a showy and ex- 
pensive roof appears so odd, strange and wanting in 
beauty, that they can see no more symmetry in a really 
commodious and tasty villa, than in a square box. It 
is not denied that there is great beauty in a roof. And 
yet, if we had been accustomed to see dwellings with a 
covering so flat, that the cornice hides every part of 
it, we should look upon a villa with a steep, showy 
and expensive roof, as the most homely and odd struc- 
ture that a mechanic could devise. A flat roof that 
cannot be seen from the ground, is far cheaper than a 
steep roof. And to many people, a cottage with a pro- 
jecting, and very flat roof, appears far more in keeping 
with their ideas of architectural beauty, than a steep 



136 tudd's country homes. 

roof. A steep roof, with gables and dormer windows, 
will make a house apjDear much larger than it really is ; 
and they will give it a more spacious appearance, than 
if the same rooms were covered with a flat roof Those 
persons who fancy gables, dormer windows, pediments 
and truncated roofs, will not be satisfied with a flat 
roof As to the expense, I need hardly state that a flat 
roof that cannot be seen, if covered with plastic slate 
or tin, will -constitute about the cheapest and best roof 
that can be made. The steeper the roof is, of course, 
the greater will be the quantity of roofing material 
required to cover it ; and consequently, the larger will 
be the cash expense. Pediments are always expen- 
sive ; and unless every part is made with extreme care- 
fulness, the valleys will leak. If shingles, or slate be 
used to cover a roof, of course, it must be steep ; and 
the steeper a roof is, the less liable it will be to leak, 
as the water will be conducted down, even on the un- 
der side of poor shingles, on a steep roof, which would 
not carry off the rain, were the sides not more than a 
quarter pitch. (See pitch of roof in glossary.) But, 
whether a roof be steep or flat, there is great beauty 
in having the eaves project beyond the wall ; and the 
amount of projection must be regulated by the size of 
the edifice. There is little danger of giving too much 
projection. A projecting roof adds largely to 'the 
beauty of a cottage, or a villa. And more than this, 
there is great economy in protecting the walls, es- 
pecially if they are painted, by means of a project- 
ing roof, on every side of the house. 

In sections of the country where snow and ice are 
liable to accumulate on a roof near the eaves, so as to 



BRACKET FINISH. 



137 



dam up the water, and cause it to back up beneath the 
shmgles, and flow down on the walls inside of the dwell- 
ing, it is important that the roofing material should be 
water tight, like tin, or a coat of plastic slate. Then, 
it will be impossible for water to find its way through 
the roof, even if ice should accumulate at the eaves. 
The walls of many fine villas that were covered with 
shingles, or Vermont slate, have been damaged exceed- 
ingly, by the water backing up from the eaves. 

A BRACKET FINISH. 

The illustration given in this connection represents a 
side view of a bracket nailed to the cornice-boards. 

The brackets for a house two 
stories high should be about four 
feet long, and not less than two 
feet wide at the widest point. A 
pattern should be made of the 
desired form, as shown by the en- 
graving, with which each bracket 
is marked out. The brackets 
may then be sawed out on a 
scroll-saw table. The cornice- 
boards are first nailed to the 
studs, after which the ])rackets 
are held in the desired place and 
nailed from the inside. If a bracket should come di- 
rectly opposite a stud, the nails can be slanted, so as to 
enter the bracket. The under side of the roof-board is 
planed, so that the surface may be painted. As the 
brackets will be entirely protected from storms, the 
planks of which they are made, may be sawed out of 
bass-wood, whiterwood, or any other kind of cheap tim- 




A WOODEN BRACKET. 



138 todd's country homes. 

ber, as such lumber, in a dry j)lace, will subserve just 
as good a purpose as more expensive timber. 

I once erected a tasty suburban villa, having a 
bracket finish, the brackets of which were similar to 
the illustration, and were sawed out of elm plank ; and 
the cornice-boards were white bass-wood, thoroughly 
seasoned. This lumber subserved as satisfactory a pur- 
pose as pine, which would cost twice as much as the 
elm and bass-wood. 

It may be seen by the illustration, that representa- 
tions of nails are shown, as having been driven through 
the frieze-board into the edge of the bracket. One of 
the most expeditious and accurate ways to make a pat- 
tern for such a bracket, is, to cut a small one out of a 
piece of thick paper, hold it by the side of a lighted 
lamp, so that its shadow will fall on a board, held 
against the wall. Then, mark out a full-sized bracket 
by the shadow of a small bracket. In this way, brackets 
of different sizes may be marked out with accuracy, and 
with great facility, by holding the paper pattern, nearer 
the light, if it is desirable to increase the size of the 
desired pattern. 

This style of finish is admirably adapted to the im- 
provement of an old farm-house, which has very little 
cornice, or simply a large moulding for verge-boards, as 
the "cornice-boards can be nailed on without disturbing 
the walls, or tiny of the interior of the building; and 
the nails that hold the brackets may be toed in. Such 
a finish is not expensive, and an active, ingenious man 
or boy, can make such a finish, and put it up about 
as well as an experienced joiner. Furthermore, the 
beauty which such a finish will impart to either an old 



SLATE KOOFING. 139 

house, or a new one, for a country residence, far 
transcends the beauty of a heavy Cormthian cornice, 
which is adapted only to palatial mansions and other 
edifices in a city. A bracket finish is more in keeping 
with the country than the heavy and expensive cor- 
nices which should never be seen, except on a city 
bank, or on some large public building. 

PLASTIC SLATE ROOriNG. 

It is a subject of congratulation that science has re- 
cently enabled builders to avail themselves of a mate- 
rial for roofing, that possesses the merit of cheapness 
aiid durability at the same time. I allude to the plastic 
slate roofing. I have no tin, plastic slate or shingles 
to sell. But I have seen, in the city of New York, 
enough of plastic slate roofs to warrant me in stating 
that this material is the cheapest, the most durable, 
and will render the best satisfaction of any material 
that can be employed for covering buildings. I have 
examined a number of large buildings in New York 
City that are covered with plastic slate, and more 
beautiful roofs were never seen. Water may stand and 
back up, for any length of time, on them, and not a 
drop can get through to wet the walls. Those large 
buildings seem to be covered by one broad and un- 
broken piece of slate, as durable as stone itself, and, 
to all appearance, they will remain perfectly water- 
proof, and fire-proof also, for hundreds of years after 
the men who made them have been forgotten. 

The materials employed in making this kind of roof- 
ing are inexhaustible, and as cheap as the fragments of 
quarried slate and gas-tar, both of which may be ob- 
tained at so cheap a rate, that the expense of forming a 



140 todd's country homes. 

durable roof will be less than it can be made of shingles 
of any kind, or of metal. Some parties at first expe- 
rience serious difficulty in making a satisfactory roof 
of coal-tar and the flour of slate. But, by repeated 
experiments, they learned that their failures were at- 
tributable to want of skill in mingling the two sub- 
stances. Experiments showed that when the tar and 
the flour of slate were mingled in the proper propor- 
tions, the material would reconstruct readily, and form 
a most perfect roof, which will last as long as natural 
slate. I have had the plastic slate applied to a leaky 
tin roof on my own house in Brooklyn, and I do not 
hesitate to recommend it as the cheapest and most 
durable roof that can be put on a building. A writer 
in the Working Farmer sa.ys: "It is a palpable fact, 
that pulverized slate-rock, mixed with coal-tar, and 
exposed in a thin layer to solar or other heat, does 
become a solid body, non-absorbent and undecay- 
ing; and having no other suitable word, we call it 
" stone " — " slate-stone." To call it by any other name 
would mislead the people. This change is brought 
about by natural laws. But the time of its accomplish- 
ment depends on the degree of heat and the thickness 
of the layer. No matter if it remained a hundred 
years in a semi-hard and flexible state, it will always 
be impervious to w\ater and steam, and a shield against 
fire. But the fact is, coal-tar alone will 7iot stay; it 
will fly off in the air; and what is left is solid slate or 
stone." 

There is only one objection to plastic slate on a 
dwelling-house, which is, the coal-tar will color the 
water, and injure it for culinary purposes, until the 



DIET CATCHER. 141 

material becomes hard. But in order to have clean and 
pure water, a device similar to the illustration in the 
next paragraph may be employed with satisfactory re- 
sults. Where such an automatic dirt-catcher is em- 
ployed, the water may be collected from a roof of any 
kind, and be free from all impurities. Plastic slate is 
being employed for roofing, very extensively, in almost 
every State of the Union. And, the plastic material is 
used for other purposes besides roofing. In New York 
City, the spacious stable of one of the Ice Companies 
is in the second story. Horses ascend on a cleated in- 
clined plane, to reach their stables. The first floor is 
used for a carriage-house. To make the stable floor 
"leak-tight," and thus prevent the liquid of the stables 
from flowing down into the carriage-room, the first 
floor on the joists, was covered with a heavy coat of 
plastic slate. Then, before the plastic had become 
hard, a plank floor was laid directly on the plastic slate. 
By this means, the timbers were preserved from decay ; 
and the stable floor was rendered tight. See how to 
use plastic slate for making wet cellars dry, under the 
head of cellars. 

, AN AUTOMATIC DIRT CATCHER. 

The illustration in this connection, represents a de- 
vice for turning the filthy water collected on a roof 
out of the cistern. There is usually more or less dust, 
dirt, and filth on almost all kinds of roofs, which is 
swept off" by the first dash of a shower of rain. Roofing 
which is composed in part of coal tar, will color and 
scent all the water of a large reservoir, unless that 
which falls first, can be turned away from the cistern. 

There have been several patent devices brought out 



142 



TODD S COUNTEY HOMES. 



for this purpose, which required an o]3erator to be on 
hand, during a shower, to adjust the parts. But this 
device is entirely automatic, simple, easily constructed, 
and always reliable. If a shower of rain falls during 
any hour of the night, no one is required to hasten to 
the water-conductor to turn away the first washing of 
a dirty roof; and then, to direct the clean water into 
the cistern. The device consists of a large barrel, open 
at the top, standing on a plank, about six or eight feet 
long, near one end of it, as shown in the illustration. 




AUTOMATIC DIRT CATCHER. 



A large stone, or a number of small stones, or a pile of 
bricks, not quite as heavy as the barrel full of water, 
occupies the other end of the plank. The plank as 
will be seen, rests on the sharp edge of a stick of tim- 
ber. A portion of the leader from the eave-trough, is 
represented, which conveys the water into the cistern. 
The barrel is supposed to be empty. The first water 
that falls on a filthy roof carries with it all the filth 



EE-SHINGLING OLD KOOFS. 143 

• 

and odor, and everytliing is received in the barrel. 
By the time the barrel is full, the roof is as clean as 
a scoured kitchen floor; and so soon as the barrel has 
received a larger number of pounds of water, than 
the weight of the balance-stone, on the other end of 
the plank, the barrel of water descends, and the stone 
rises. The water from the roof, by this time, will be 
clear and clean; and instead of flowing into the short 
trough extending from the leader to the barrel, the 
stream is received in the section of the funnel-shaped 
leader, which is moved in the proper position by the 
descent of the barrel, to receive the water from the 
main leader, or tin spout. After the shower, the water 
is let out of the barrel, when the stone will go down 
and the barrel will rise, and adjust itself for another 
flood of foul liquid from the roof. 

With the aid of this illustration aiid explanation, any 
person of ordinary intelligence will be able to arrange 
such an apparatus, to operate in a satisfactory manner. 
If the roof is a spacious one, it will be necessary to 
place a hogshead or tierce on one end of the plank, as 
one-fourth part of the filthy water collected on a large 
roof, would fill a barrel. In cold weather, the barrel 
or hogshead should be emptied before the water freezes. 
If there are any more desirable devices than this, for 
turning the foul water out of a cistern, I have not met 
with them. 

EE SHINGLING OLD EOOFS. 

When an old shingle-roof has become so leaky as to 
require a covering of new shingles, it is a great mis- 
take to remove the old ones. Yet, this is almost always 
done, before the jiew shingles are put on. It is a far 



144 todd's country homes. 

better practice, however, to lay the new roof directly 
over the old one. If there be moss on the shingles, 
scrape and sweep it off clean. Then, apply a heavy 
coat of coal-tar to the old shingles, and proceed to put 
on the new shingles, just as if there were no old 
shingles on the roof. If the shingles are thick, and 
the roof-boards soft wood, it will be necessary to use 
six-penny nails, for fastening on the new shingles. 
But, if both the old shingles and the new ones are thin, 
and the roof-boards are hard wood, ordinary shingle 
nails may subserve a satisfactory purpose. The nails 
must be long enough to draw every shingle down tight, 
and retain the shingle in its proper place. 

Every practical man will perceive, at a glance, the 
advantage of covering the old roof with new shingles. 
The old shingles will be of little value after they are re- 
moved ; whereas, they will aid in rendering a roof more 
tight. To strip an old roof, and to break down or drive 
in all the nails, is more of a job than one would suppose, 
until he has had some experience in doing such work. 

The coat of coal-tar tends to preserve the old shingles, 
and render the entire roof more durable. A few 
pounds more of nails will be required, to nail through 
the old shingles. But the extra expense will not equal 
the cost of taking off the old roof 

One of the most satisfactory ways to render a tin 
roof tight, is, to cover it with a coat of plastic slate 
roofing. Our own house, in Brooklyn, is covered with 
a tin roof, which w^ould leak in spite of all the tinker's 
efforts to solder up the cracks. I then had a coat of 
plastic slate spread directly on the tin, and our roof 
has never leaked since. Judging from its appear- 



RAISING A EOOF. 145 

unce, the plastic slate roof will last a hundred years, 
or more. This covering seems like one large piece 
-of Vermont slate, extending over the entire roof. 

HOW TO RAISE A ROOF. 

It is frequently necessary to elevate the entire roof 
of a house, so as to make the rooms in the attic, of 
desirable height. In some instances, a roof may be 
raised a few feet in height, with little difficulty. On 
the contrary, it may require skillful engineering to 
raise a roof that has no collar-beams secured to the 
rafters, even a few inches. Some means must be em- 
ployed to prevent the plates from spreading. If collar- 
beams are nailed to the rafters, the studs may be saAved 
off beneath the plates, on both sides of the building. 
Now, elevate one side, say six inches, by means of 
three or four joiner's bench-screws, placed on blocks 
beneath the plate. Block up the plate, put the screws 
under the other side, raise it one foot liigh and block 
it up. Then elevate each side, alternately, one foot at 
a time. When the roof is at the desired height, splice 
the studs beneath the plates, by sawing the ends off 
square, and nailing strips on each side of the two pieces 
that are to be joined together. If there are no collar- 
beams to hold the foot of the rafters from spreading, 
the sides of the roof will be liable to fall down flat, as 
soon as the plates are cut loose. 

In case there is a stiff plate on each side of the 
Iniilding, two wooden bench-screws would be sufficient 
to elevate one side at a time. 

GUTTERS, EAVE-TROUGHS AND SPOUTING. 

Every building that stands on a wall, should be pro- 
vided with suitable eave-troughs, or gutters, with 

10 



146 todd's country homes. 

leaders or spouting, to conduct all the water that falls 
on the roof, into a spacious cistern, or into a subter- 
ranean conduit. Many an elegant dwelling has been 
seriously damaged, by allowing the water from the roof, 
to be discharged on the ground, near some corner of 
the building. And one of the worst effects of discharg- 
ing water from the gutters of buildings on the surface, 
is that it is liable to get under the foundations, at, or 
near its place of discharge ; and by softening the ground 
at this point, cause the building to settle unequally, 
which is injurious to a plastered dwelling. If water is 
allowed to flow from a leader on the surface of the 
ground, a small open trough should convey it away from 
the building, at least thirty feet from the wall. The 
earth around the foundation wall of a building, should 
be kept as dry as practicable. When there is no eave- 
trough on a house, or barn, and all the water is allowed 
to fall from the roof to the ground, near the wall, the 
whole earth frequently becomes so thoroughly satur- 
ated with water and the wall gets such a drenching, 
that the frost of winter freezes the earth behind the 
wall, and eventually thrusts the wall over into the cel- 
lar. The correct way is to extend the tin spouting to 
within some ten inches of the surface of the ground, 
and at this point, insert the tin tube into the upper end 
of a glazed earthen pipe, without any elbow in the tin 
pipe. Place an earthen bend of pipe below frost in 
the ground, and continue the pipe in the ground, join- 
ins; all the discharsjes from the building; into one main 
pipe, which leads into the cistern or drain. If this is 
well done, none of the water which falls on the build- 
ing will be absorbed by the foundation walls, or find 



BATTEN-DOORS. 147 

its way into the cellar. Another very desirable result 
is also attained — the water will seldom freeze in the 
spouting, and rupture it. 

Thus arranged, and with a wire strainer in the gutter 
over the mouth of the spouting, to prevent leaves from 
getting in the spouting, it will need no repairs for many 
years, nor any attention, except to remove the leaves 
from the gutters, when the water shall be found to over- 
flow in consequence of the leaves obstructing the pas- 
sage. When leaves accumulate on the roofs of build- 
ings, they should be removed every few days. It is 
far better to remove them, than to be to the expense, 
as is frequently done, of making sieves, or screens of 
wire, to exclude them. It is an excellent practice to 
let the water from the tin leaders, be discharged into 
the tile drains, at the bottom of the foundation wall, 
as a stream of water will keep the passage clear. 

A WORD ABOUT BATTEN-DOORS. 

Most house-joiners will sneer at the idea of having a 
batten-door in any part of a dwelling-house. But, in 
a plain, cheap house, a neatly made batten- door, with 
a bead on one side of every joint, always looks as neat 
and tasty as an expensive panel-door. Besides this, a 
neat batten-door, made of straight-grained, narrow 
boards, looks more harmoniously when contrasted Avith 
,the plain casing and other wood- work of a cheap dwell- 
ing-house. Saying nothing of the appearance, batten- 
doors have the merit of great economy to recommend 
their use in constructing a cheap house. One panel- 
door will cost more than three batten-doors. If the 
inside of a house is to be finished with panel-work 
under the windows, and heavy face casings and mould- 



1-18 todd's country iiomijs. 

ings are put around the door-ways and window-frames, 
panel-doors should be used in order to be in keeping 
with the rest of the work. It may suit most people 
better to have a panel-door for the front entrance of a 
cheap house. But all the inside doors may be batten- 
doors. Very few people would be able to tell, after 
spending a day or. two in a cozy cottage, whether the 
house was furnished with batten or panel-doors. 

The boards of which batten-doors are to be made, 
should always be dressed out and sunned thoroughly, 
for eight or ten days, before the pieces are put together. 
A better plan still than sunning the boards is, to lay 
them up over head, in a store-room, where they will 
soon season so thoroughly, that the pieces will shrink 
but little. 

In order to show something of the economy of bat- 
ten-doors, the writer will state, that when accustomed 
to work at building houses, he never desired over two 
hours to dress one side of the stuff of a batten-door, put 
the pieces together, and hang it. Most house-carpen- 
ters will make and hang more than five batten-doors in 
a day, when the stuff is planed on one side and matched. 
If a workman cannot make and hang a batten-door in 
two hours, he cannot perform a fair day's work. These 
points are alluded to, because som.e house-joiners, who 
are receiving great wages, will often squander a whole, 
day in making and hanging one batten-door. 

The most expeditious way to make a batten-door is 
to saw the lower ends of the boards square, fasten one 
end of the battens to one board with four wood-screws, 
drive the other boards together, put on the door-clamp, 
squeeze the pieces together and fasten the batten Avith 



AIE-TIGHT DOORS. 149 

screws, rather than wroiight-nails. One screw is worth 
more than two nails in making a batten-door, as the 
screws will hold much more than nails. Then, by hav- 
ing the lower end square with one side, the door can be 
set up to its place, the top and one side marked off with 
a pencil in less time than is required to write out these 
directions, the side and top sawed off to the mark, and 
the door hung in a few minutes. 

HOW TO MAKE AIR-TIGHT DOORS. 

It is extremely desirable, many times, to construct 
doors in such a manner as to subserve nearly as good a 
purpose as a solid wall. This may be done satisfac- 
torily and at a trifling expense. Such doors are de- 
sirable for ice-houses, fruit-preserving houses, and for 
cellars. When neatly made, they will exclude a vast 
deal of cold from a cellar, or from fruit apartment. 

There are two ways of making air-tight doors. One 
is to hang a panel or a batten-door on each side of a 
wide jamb-casing, and bevel the edges of each door, 
say about one-eighth of an inch in the thickness 
of the stiles, and bevel the edges of the casing, so as 
to correspond with the edges of the door. There should 
be a space of about one-eighth of an inch all around be- 
tween the edges of the door and the casing. Then 
nail pieces of woolen cloth, or strips of list on the 
door, and in the rabbet of the casing. 

Another way is to make two box-doors, one for each 
side of the wall, or door-way, having beveled edges 
covered with cloth, just as the edges of the doors 
alluded to, in the preceding paragraph, are covered. A 
plank frame is first made, similar to a door-casing, with 
jamb-casings, or stiles six inches wide. Boards are 



150 todd's country homes. 

then nailed on both sides of the frame, thus forming a 
space six inches wide, in each door, which is filled with 
saw-dust or tan-bark. These doors are then neatly hung, 
so as to fit tight to the casing. If the wall be a thick 
one, there will be an air-chamber a foot wide between 
the doors. It will pay well to make such doors for 
cellars, beneath out-buildings, as the weather must 
necessarily be exceedingly cold to freeze vegetables 
beyond such an entrance. 

SIZE OF WINDOWS, AND PANES. 

To some persons, large panes of glass appear really 
magnificent, and large windows seem to add to the 
grandeur of a splendid palace. Yet, after all, there are 
some strange notions cherished about the size of win- 
dows, as well as the number of windows with which 
each room is provided. 

The object of windows is to admit the light. The 
side of a house will appear just as beautiful with four 
windows, as with eight, and vice versa, provided we are 
only accustomed to think that a house with either 
number looks the best. Many people, as well as some 
house carpenters, have capricious notions concerning 
the size of windows and the number there ought to be 
in each room of a dwelling. The custom is to get all 
the large and expensive windows you can into every 
room; and then, put on blinds outside, shutters inside, 
and from one to three different curtains and shades to 
each window. That is the custom. And a more arbi- 
trary, unphilosophical, unreasonable and unwise prac- 
tice does not prevail. Window-blinds, sash, frames, 
shutters, glass, curtains, and everything employed about 
a window, are made of expensive materials. What 



SIZE OF WINDOW-PANES. 151 

reason is there, therefore, in making large and expen- 
sive windows to admit the light, and then exclude it 
with shutters and shades? It is always desirable to 
have an abundance of light in every room. But on 
the score of economy, the correct way is to make only 
as many windows as are really necessary, and to have* 
the blinds and shades so constructed, that light can be 
admitted throug-h the entire window when it is re- 
quired. The larger the panes of glass are, and the 
larger the squares of the sashes, the more expensive 
the windows will be. In point of economy, therefore, 
it is better to have fifteen panes of glass, eight by ten, 
in each window, than to have the same space filled 
with only two, or with four large panes. The glass in 
windows, is liable to be broken by numerous unfore- 
seen casualties. If the panes are large, the expense 
may be one dollar or more to put in a new light. 
Whereas, were the glass not more than seven by nine, 
or eight by ten inches square, the cost of putting in a 
new light, where a pane has been broken, will be only 
a few cents. A window with the panes only six or 
eight inches square coincides more harmoniously with 
economical architecture, than glass two feet square. 
Many dollars may be saved by purchasing window sash 
and glass of a small size, as small panes are more 
fashionable than large ones. But whatever may be the 
size or shape of the windows, let them be so con- 
structed that the upper sashes can be shoved down- 
wards, for the purpose of ventilation. 

MANAGEMENT OF FLOORING. 

Floor-boards ought to be dried in a kiln, and heated 
so thoroughly, that they will not shrink out of the 



152 todd's country homes. 

matcliing, after having been laid a few months. Even 
when lumber has been seasoned five years, under shel- 
ter, and then laid for a floor in a dwelling-house, the 
boards will shrink, sometimes one-fourth of an inch 
per every foot. But, if the boards be sunned in hot 
weather, for two weeks, and the floor laid while the 
boards are warm and dry, they will not shrink out of 
the matching. 

Flooring should never be more than six inches wide ; 
because, floor-boards will shrink more on the upper 
side, than on the lower side. Then, if they be wide, 
they will be warped badly, and thus make an. uneven 
floor. If the boards be narrow, the surface will not 
be so uneven, as if the boards were wide. When a 
floor is not to be covered with a carj)et, the boards 
should be "blind nailed," which is done by driving the 
nails in the edge of each board on the upper side of 
the tongue. 

The joints of flooring in the kitchen, and other places 
where water is liable to enter, should be thoroughly 
smeared with good paint, as each board is laid. A few 
cents' worth of paint will often save as many dollars 
in the durability of the boards. 

White-ash and sugar-maple timber will make an ex- 
cellent floor for a kitchen. In order to have a neat 
and smooth floor, free from dirt cracks, put the boards 
overhead in the kitchen, for at least two months. 
Then, let them be planed and matched, in a planing- 
machine. The ends of the boards may extend under 
the base-board, on one side of the room, and the other 
ends can be sawed off" square to fit the base, with a 
tight joint. All kitchen floors should be put down in 



PRESERVATION OF TIMBER. 153 

this manner, so that a new floor can be laid, without 
tearing off the base, and thus injuring the wall. I 
once laid a maple floor in this way, after the boards 
were thoroughly seasoned; and it was a beauty. The 
surface was oiled, so that grease spots could not be dis- 
covered in the wood; the joints were water-tight. 

PRESERVATION OF TIMBER IN BUILDINGS. 

In many instances, multitudes of small borers Avill 
work in the frame timber of a barn or house, to such an 
extent that a large proportion of the interior of posts 
and beams will be reduced to "• powder post." I have 
seen beams made of sugar-maple trees bored to powder 
to such an extent, that there was danger of crushing 
beneath the superincumbent pressure. 

When timber is cut down in the spring of the year, 
or in the former part of summer, and worked up in a 
frame, borers will almost always work in the beams and 
posts. And sometimes they will be found committing 
their depredations in frame timber- that was hewed or 
sawed out in autumn. After such borers have entered 
a stick of timber, it is not practicable to dislodge them 
or to arrest their ravages. But timely remedies are 
available. 

As soon as the frame is erected, smear the surface of 
the timber with coal-tar. This will be found an effect- 
ual remedy, as the poisonous material in the tar is so re- 
pulsive to the flies that deposit the eggs in the timber 
from which the borers are hatched, that no eggs will be 
deposited there. A heavy coat of paint will subserve 
the same purpose as tar. But oil paint would be too 
expensive. 

In some sections of the country, a kind of bumble-bee 



154 todd's countey homes. 

will make honey-comb of the wood-work of a house, if 
the surface is not coated with paint, or coal-tar. I have 
frequently seen the bumble-bees bore holes in the wood- 
Avork of verandas of dwelling-houses, and cut out re- 
cesses capacious enough for their nests, and there they 
w^ould propagate and rear their yoimg. When all other 
wood-work was coated with paint, I have known them 
to enter the under side of an unpainted board-seat on 
the veranda, and cut out the interior, so that the board 
was a mere shell. An hour spent in the morning 
knocking these invaders down with a light bat, will be 
time profitably appropriated. A boy or girl with a 
light bat will soon exterminate them. 

Another means of rendering frame timber durable, 
is to bore a hole from the outside of the timber to the 
lower side or bottom of every mortise, crack, or recess 
in the timber that will retain water. By this means, 
when water finds its w^ay from any source into such 
cavities, it will be provided with a convenient egress, 
thus saving the timber from decay. Sills of barns and 
houses frequently have large cracks on the upper side.' 
When the kitchen floor is cleaned, if water finds its 
way into such cracks when there is no outlet, the tim- 
ber must decay in a few years. Proprietors of houses 
should explain to their domestics the injury that is lia- 
ble to result from deluging the floor with water. Floors 
and all other parts of a dwelling can be cleaned and 
kept clean, without using so much water that it will 
run down into the timber of the frame, to its injury. 

SUGGESTIONS ABOUT CONCRETE WALLS. 

There are a few important considerations in regard 
to building concrete or oyster-shell houses, which 



CONCRETE WALLS. 155 

should be carefully observed. I will allude to them 
briefly. Do not carry up the walls too rapidly. A bed 
of mortar, after it has set, is very tender, and a wall 
will collapse with only a little jarring. If the walls be 
carried up too rapidly, they will crush with their own 
weight. If sufficient care is not taken in regard to a 
dry foundation, water will freeze in the wall and make 
trouble. The work should be done in fine weather; 
and in stormy weather the walls should be well cov- 
ered. The lime used should be uniform in quality, 
and fresh. The sand and gravel should be clean; and 
trials should be made beforehand, to know the most 
desirable proportions of lime, sand and gravel. A few 
bushels of inferior lime may ruin a good wall. The 
limited number of people who persevere in erecting 
concrete walls, and because they cannot get regular 
mechanics to do the work at reasonable prices, do it 
themselves, often meet, at first, with the accidents and 
mishaps to which all inexperienced persons are liable, 
when they undertake to do work at which a regular 
apprenticeship ought to be served. For this reason, 
a person should make extensive inquiry as to the de- 
tails of the work to be done; and, in some instances, 
it will be an excellent plan when about to build a 
gravel-wall house to put up some small building, or an 
L, first, so as to learn all those little matters of manip- 
ulation, which cannot well be described, and fairly get 
your hand in before undertaking to put up a house of 
considerable size. The use of small stones, even of the 
size of one's fist, among the gravel, is no disadvantage, 
and, if not present, they may be added. If, however, 
no stones of an .intermediate size between small gravel 



156 todd's country homes. 

and large flat stones exist, as is very often the case, 
the stones may be broken up, or laid in the wall with 
the mortar. Such a wall, however, is a departure from 
the proper concrete wall, though perhajDS equally good, 
if well laid. It may be laid in flasks, or curbing, 
like concrete. The lime need not be of such quality 
as is necessary for fine, smooth mortar. No matter 
how coarse it is, if it be only freshly burnt, and capa- 
ble of making a strong mortar. If it sets quickly, so 
much more rapidly the work may be pushed forward. 
Oyster-shell lime answers perfectly well. It ought to 
be thoroughly burned, arid unslacked.- 

A satisfactory plan, sometimes adopted in the con- 
struction of concrete, or gravel walls, is to lay up stone 
or brick at the corners, at least, and j)erhaps at other 
points in the wall, if it be of great length. Between 
the piers, the wall is built of concrete, the boards, or 
curbing, being kept in place by the piers, so that the 
irregularities incident to careless work, when no piers 
are built, are avoided. Blocks of concrete may be em- 
ployed instead of bricks, or stone. The use of the 
blocks of concrete instead of stone or brick, to lay piers, 
is an excellent and convenient way to secure perpen- 
dicular corners and regular walls, without the use of 
stone or brick. It has been recommended by some 
builders, who have had experience in this matter, to 
construct regular flasks, or moulds, made eight feet 
long, fourteen inches high, as wide as the wall is thick, 
and made to take apart easily. In these the concrete 
is placed, and when it has set, the flasks are removed ; 
and after a few days, the blocks become sufficiently 
firm to stand satisfactorily. These flasks, which con- 



THICKNESS OF CONCRETE WALLS. 157 

sists of two wide planks, are held together by half-inch 
bolts, extending through the planks, and the wall also. 
When the flasks are to be raised higher, the bolts are 
drawn out of the wall, put through holes near the lower 
edge of the planks, and the flask is supported by the 
bolts which rest on the top of the wall. There is much 
said against the construction of concrete buildings, gen- 
erally, by those who have never attempted to build an 
edifice of such materials. As joiners generally con- 
sider these kinds of buildings an innovation upon their 
rights, without having given them a thought, they are 
opposed to them. Those building upon this plan, will 
have to depend largely upon their own ingenuity and 
skill. There are many good buildings of concrete, 
which will stand for ages to come; and others equally 
durable may be erected, if excellent materials are em- 
ployed. 

THICKNESS OF CONCRETE WALLS. 

The correct way to make concrete is to mould the 
sand and lime in flasks, and dry the blocks under shel- 
ter for nearly one year before laying them in a wall. 
For an ordinary two or three-story dwelling-house the 
walls of the two lower stories should be not less than 
one foot thick. The upper stories will be comparatively 
strong with the lower ones, if the walls are made only 
eight or nine inches in thickness. More than this, if 
the walls of the upper story be only eight or nine 
inches thick, the superincumbent pressure will be less 
on the walls of the lower story than if the work were 
made one foot thick to the top of the building. When 
about to erect a concrete building, the builder should 
have a perfect understanding of what is required, as 



158 



todd's country homes. 



experiments with this material are sometimes disastrous 
and enormously expensive. 

In making concrete blocks, it is far better to mould 
them of a size suitable for one man to handle with ease. 
If they are too heavy to be laid by one man, some of 
the corners will be knocked off almost every time a 
block is laid down. For this reason, let the moulds, 




PERSPECTIVE OF COTTAGE AT SEA-SIDE PARK. 

or flasks, be made of hard, smooth wood, one foot wide, 
six inches deep, and not over one and one-half feet 
long. If any part of the wall is to be eighteen inches 
thick, the blocks should be nine inches wide, six inches 
thick, and eighteen inches long, so that every fourth 
course may be laid cross-ways of the wall, for the pur- 
pose of binding the courses beneath it. 

The beautiful perspective as seen above, which has 
many claims upon the attention of my readers, will 



SEA-SIDE PARK COTTAGE. 



150 



furnish a style of architecture that will harmonize 
with the taste and requirements of a great many peo- 
ple. A cottage of which this is the representation, 
was recently erected in Connecticut. The joiner work 
is plain and neat, and the steep, projecting roofs and 
gables impart an architectural finish to it, which will 
be in excellent keeping with rural surroundings, where 
" grove nods to grove, with shady walks between." 

The following plan of the first floor will give a more 
correct idea of the interior arrangement of the rooms : 





FIRST FLOOR. 



SECOND FLOOR. 



Size of cottage, 40 feet front, by 28 feet deep, with a 
kitchen-wing in the rear 19 by 23 feet. The main 
roof has two slopes, the lower portion covering or 
making front and rear verandas. The roofs are well 
broken up with gables, ornamented with sawed vertical 
boarding and bracing. The chimneys are topped out 
large and bold, giving more character to the roofs. 
The cottage is painted in pleasing tints, a darker shade 
being used for the projecting portions. H shows the 
main hall ; P the parlor ; S R the sitting-room ; D the 



160 todd's countky homes. 

dining-room ; C cliina-closet ; K the kitchen, with P 
the pantiy, and S the sink-room ; V V show the front 
and rear verandas and porches. On the second floor 
there are four chambers C C C C, and two small rear 
bed-rooms. Over the front porch there is a pleasant 
little chamber, and back of the main staircase a bath- 
room. 

Such a cottage will be found much more spacious 
than many small families would really require. But 
the dimensions may be diminished to suit the require- 
ments of the occupants. If desirable, the rooms may 
also be arranged differently. 

The correct way to compute the cost will be, to de- 
cide upon the plan, the height of the building and the 
pitch and projection of the roof Then, let any one 
who understands making out a bill of materials for a 
dwelling, make a written estimate of the quantity of 
lumber and other materials, computing the price of 
each, according to locality. • 

I am aware, that shrewd architects, who will not 
build such a cottage, unless they can make from one 
to three thousand dollars on it, will aver that we can- 
not approximate the cost, with any satisfactory degree 
of certainty. But they know better, when they make 
such an assertion. An experienced joiner can deter- 
mine within a few dollars, the cost of everything. He 
can compute the quantity of timber, flooring, &c., with 
suflicient accuracy for all practical purposes. Then he 
can calculate how many days an honest and faithful 
joiner will require to enclose one side, put on the roof, 
lay the floors, and finish ofl* room after room. The 
cost can be shown by figures with as much accuracy as 



MORNING-GLORY COTTAGE. 



161 



a tailor can compute the price of materials for a man's 
overcoat. 

MORNING-GLORY COTTAGE. 




rERSPECTIVE OF COTTAGE. 



The perspective of the accompanying beautiful cot- 
tage, reminds one of a rose in a honeysuckle glen. It 
was designed by Mr. George E. Harney, and can be 
built cheaply. This view of the elevation has some 
ornamental features, which, though not absolutely nec- 
essary, were thought by Mr. Harney to heighten the 



162 



TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 



artistic effect of the design. Thus the veranda, the 
balcony, the widely projecting eaves, the heavy brack- 
ets, the dormer windows, truncated gables, etc., may 
be adopted or rejected, according to each one's taste 
or purse. As to the plan and arrangement of rooms, 
the architect says: 

" The front door opens into a vestibule, A, six feet wide 
and nine feet long. From the rear of this, a passage 
extends to the staircase 
hall, E, w^hich opens out 
to the yavd, or into aj 
w^ood-shed, if desu'ed. 
B, the parlor, is fifteen! 
feet square, and con-' 
nects by means of aj 
small passage with thei 
living-room, D . This 
living-room is tw^elve 

Dy seventeen, and opens plan of morning-glory cottage. 
into the staircase hall at a point convenient to the back 
entrance of the house. Across the hall, and near the 
head of the cellar-stairs, is a good-sized closet or store- 
room, a, fitted up with shelves and cupboards, and 
lighted by a single wdndow. The sitting-room, C, meas- 
ures thirteen by fifteen, and has two doors, one open- 
ing into the vestibule, and the other into the passage 
back of it. The second floor is divided mainly like the 
first, and comprises three chambers, a bathing-room, and 
five closets — besides the hall. According to an estimate 
made in 1862 for a house on this plan, such a cottage 
could have been built for from fifteen to seventeen 
hundred dollars, in New England, where all kinds of 




ECONOMICAL WAY OF BUILDING. 1G3 

building materials are very costly. But, in many 
localities, where a man could cut most of the lumber 
on his own land, and get it sawed in the winter, when 
manual labor is cheap, such a house could be com- 
pleted for $1,000." 

The truncated gable possesses about as much artistic 
beauty as a bob-tailed pullet. Yet many persons will 
declare that, to their view, the style is charming. Such 
features increase the expense more than one would sup- 
pose. The dimensions of the apartments may be 
varied to suit the requirements of the family. As the 
style of architecture is extremely plain, an economical 
way to get such a cottage would be, for some men, to 
let a son of sixteen, or more, work with a joiner, for a 
few months, and learn how to dress out stuff true; how 
to make door and window-frames; how to put his tools 
in order, and, if he possess a fair share of ingenuity and 
ambition, he will be able to build such a house in a 
neat and workman-like manner in a few weeks. By 
having the stuff dressed out at a planing-mill, an active 
joiner can perform every item of labor, on such a cot- 
tage, in two months. But let a person employ four or 
five sub-joiners, who will work, as many of them are 
accustomed to — to keep moving and accomplish as 
little as they can — and the expense of the joiner work 
will be doubled. 

I once employed a joiner to erect a dwelling which 
had about as many doors, windows and siding, as this 
cottage. The work on this cottage would not exceed 
the work on the house alluded to by twenty days. I 
told him at the outset, pleasantly, that I thought, after 
having made a careful estimate, that I could build that 



164 todd's country homes. 

house alone, in forty or forty-five days. I made an 
estimate how long it would require for each item of 
labor. Now, said I, I want to determine how long it 
will take one man to do that work. Here are a little 
hand-book and pencil, with which I would like to have 
you enter every half-day's work, whatever it may be. 
You may do the writing in the time that I pay you for 
working. I shall pay you all the wages you demand, 
and I want you to perform a dollar's worth of work 
for every dollar I pay you. No man could take offense 
at these suggestions. Well, the result was, that this 
joiner completed my job, without my supervision, in 
forty-two and one-half days. A neighbor had employed 
him, he said, to build a house, the previous season, as 
nearly like mine as he could make two houses, and his 
house cost eighty-five days' work of joiners. This il- 
lustrates the great saving which may be effected by a 
little care in supervising the work. 

I herewith give an illustration of a neat, commodi- 
ous and cheap little cottage which was recently built by 
a young carpenter, for his own family. The whole ex- 
pense, when items are computed at New York City 
prices, amounts to $669.29. This bill was rendered by 
the proprietor soon after the house was complete. I 
have seen the cottage, and I feel confident that a 
great many young men, who are just beginning married 
life, would be well pleased with a neat little home like 
this, which can be erected of excellent materials and 
workmanship, for a few hundred dollars. 

The plan will be found to meet the wants of any re- 
spectable small family, who do not cherish high notions 
of a large and expensive dwelling. In localities where 



CLERK S COTTAGE. 



165 



lumber and building materials are not so expensive as 
thej are around about New York City, such a cottage 
may be built for one or two hundred dollars less than 
the cost would be, where every board and joist must 
be purchased at an extortionate price. 

The mason's bill in the erection of this cottage was 
f 38.00. In many places the same bill would be one- 
third less. The joiner's work was thirty-four day's 




PERSPECTIVE OF A CLERk's COTTAGE. 

labor, computed at $3.00 per day. The lumber, paint, 
bricks and glass, were all purchased at New York 
prices. In localities where a person could cut logs for 
the lumber on his own land, such a house could be 
erected for three or four hundred dollars. The frame 
is of the balloon style, which requires less timber, 
while the building is stiffer, than if large posts and 
beams were employed. 



166 



TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 



Figure 2 represents the ground plan of the house. 
The upright portion P, B, is 24 feet by 16; and the 
wing K, P, V, is 16 feet by 12. P, in the upright part, 
indicates the parlor, 12 by 16. And P on the end of 
the wing, is the pantry. B is the bedroom ; K is the 
kitchen ; and V is a veranda. At E an entry and a 
stairway is represented. There are four windows in 
the parlor, two of which might be omitted; and thus 
reduce the cost several dollars. 

The studs and joists might be made of almost any 
kind of timber. Even sugar-maple, or elm, or ash 

would subserve a satr 
isfactory purpose. The 
siding might be of bass- 
wood, provided the 
boards were thoroughly 
painted; and the nail- 
holes filled with putty 
to exclude the rain. 
In sections of country 
where stone is abundant, 
the expense of building the cellar wall would be 
trifling. In case bricks were used, a wall eight inches 
thick would be sufficiently heavy for such a house. 
There should be a cellar under the upright part, at 
least. And the extra expense of putting a cellar 
beneath the wing also, would amount to only a few 
dollars more, than would be required to erect a wall 
beneath the point of conjunction of the upright part 
and of the kitchen. 

The flooring for the entire dwelling, except the 
kitchen, might be made of bass-wood, in case that tim- 




GROUND PLAN. 



GOOD FLOOEING. 167 

ber were abundant. Bass-wood makes excellent floor- 
ing, provided the boards be thoroughly seasoned, before 
the floor is nailed down. But in the kitchen, where the 
floor must be deluged with water, every washing day, 
bass-wood will not subserve a satisfactory purpose, as 
such flooring would soon decay. White-ash, or maple 
will make a superior floor, if the boards be sawed nar- 
row, say six inches wide, and thoroughly seasoned be- 
fore the edges are matched. Then, let the edges be well 
painted, as every board is laid down, and let the sur- 
face also be painted, or well oiled, which is better. If 
the work be well done a better floor could not be de- 
sired. After such hard boards have been seasoned not 
less than one year, in an airy place, under shelter, the 
most economical way to dress them out and match the 
edges, is to take the lumber to a planing-mill ; and 
have every board plajied to a uniform thickness. Then, 
let each board be "blind nailed," by driving the nails 
over the tongues ; and the floor will be as smooth as if 
the whole were one large board. 

By beginning to make preparations for such a dwell- 
ing, one or two years before the frame is to be set up, 
one can economize much more satisfactorily, than if all 
the materials were purchased, just as the workmen are 
about ready to use them. 

The time of the year in which the cellar wall is 
erected, and the frame put up, is a consideration of 
much practical importance. There are many argu- 
ments greatly in favor of commencing early in the 
spring of the year, rather than late in the season. 
When a cellar wall is laid up in the spring with lime 
mortar, as such walls always should be, the mortar 



168 todd's country homes. 

will have sufficient time to become thoroughly dry be- 
fore cold weather. On the contrary, if such work is 
deferred until autumn, the weather is often so wet, 
and the ground so damp, that the mortar does not be- 
come dry. Then, freezing weather comes on, the green 
mortar expands, and the stones and bricks heave to 
such a degree, that the wall will always be very unsat- 
isflictory. Besides this, if the wood-work has not had 
sufficient time to season, before the mortar for the walls 
is laid on, there will be numerous unsightly cracks, 
which would not have appeared, if the work had been 
done at the right season of the year. 

The man who commences building early in the sea- 
son, will always experience decided advantages over 
him who does not begin until autumn. It is always 
the better way to erect the cellar walls, early in the 
spring, put up the house, enclose and paint it one 
coat. Then, in the fall, lath, plaster and finish it. 

COBBLE-STONE HOUSES. 

In many localities, cobble-stones are so abundant on 
a farm, or along the bed of a river, that they furnish 
the cheapest and most economical material that can be 
employed for erecting a dwelling-house. If lumber is 
at all expensive, where cobble-stones are numerous, 
the cash cost of erecting the outside walls of a house 
with them will be much less than to build of wood, 
and keep the wood-work neatly painted. Cobble-stone 
work never requires any paint. This is a consideration 
of no little importance. One hundred dollars will 
shortly be exhausted in simply keeping a wooden 
house properly painted. But a hundred dollars will 
defray the expenses attending the erection of a large 



COBBLE-STONE HOUSES. 169 

amount of wall, when the cobble-sto-nes are gathered 
not far away from the place where they are to be 
used. When cobble-stones and sand can be obtained 
within the distance of a mile, it will be cheaper, and 
more satisfoctory to build a cobble-stone house, than 
to use either bricks or wood, unless lumber is very 
cheap. 

When the stones are collected, they are assorted, so 
as to have those of a given size by themselves. A few 
holes of different sizes are made through a hard board, 
or plank ; and the cobbles of different sizes are passed 
through the hole that will just allow them to slip 
through. Then, those of a given size are all laid to- 
gether. A cobble-stone house does not require lath- 
ing on the outside w^alls. In this respect, there is a 
great saving of cash expense. 

The manner of building a cobble-stone house is, to 
place the joists for the lower floor on the foundation 
wall, just as if a brick building were to be erected. 
Now, set up straight-edged studs, or joists, just two 
inches from the face of the inside wall. Place a strong 
board on the inside of the studs; and build the wall 
against this board on the inside. Put an inch strip 
loosely between the board and every stud. Then, 
when you desire to raise the board up, take out the 
inch strips, and the board Mali be loose, and it can be 
raised the width of it, without disturbing a single stone. 
The face stones are laid by a line. Flat stones, broken 
pieces, and stones of irregular form may be used for 
filling up the middle. A face course of cobbles is laid 
in stiff mortar, The middle is then leveled up with 
stones, and grouting is then poured in, so as to fill 



170 todd's country homes. 

every interstice. The workmen then move forward 
to another side of the house, and lay a course or two 
of stones. By the time they have worked around on 
all sides of the building, the grouting will be sufficiently 
stiff to receive another course of stones. Cut stones 
are, sometimes, considered essential at the corners of 
a cobble-stone house. But, cobbles may be laid at the 
corners, as well as along the sides of a building. When 
cut stones are not employed, let a round corner be 
formed. This will look more satisfactory than a square 
corner, made of cobbles. Blocks of cut stone at the 
corners, will increase the expense, unnecessarily; but 
to some people, cut-stone corners seem to be absolutely 
essential to a respectable architectural appearance of 
the edifice. Yet, it is all a matter of taste, whether one 
employs cut stones at the corners or not. I admire 
round corners more than square ones, built with square 
stones. The outside wall of a cobble-stone house 
should be built in warm and dry weather, so that the 
grouting may set as soon as practicable. If the weather 
be damp and lowery, the wall will not become suffi- 
ciently solid to support its own weight, more than two 
feet in height. When mortar has barely set, it is ex- 
ceedingly tender, and will not resist scarcely any jar, 
or superincumbent pressure. Consequently, if a side 
wall be hurried up too fast, there is danger that it will 
all collapse, or be crushed beneath its own weight. It 
is good policy, therefore, when erecting a cobble-stone 
house, not to employ too many masons. Let one ma- 
son work alone. He will carry up the walls as fast as 
they should be biiilt. 

Another point of transcendent importance, is, to 



FINISH OF A PARLOR. 171 

have the choicest quality of mortar, and grouting. 
One cannot exercise too much care in providing strong 
lime and sharp, clean sand. The strength of the wall 
will depend almost entirely on the mortar. If the sand 
is fine and filled with mould, or fine earth ; and if the 
lime be of an inferior quality, a stone house, erected 
with such mortar as those materials would make, would 
be a dangerous edifice to dwell in, as the walls would 
have no strength. 

The roof of a stone house should project from two to 
three feet, for the purpose of protecting the walls from 
driving storms, as much as possible. A protracted rain 
beating furiously against a stone house, may wet the 
mortar and grouting, through and through. 

In many instances, persons lay out much expense in 
finishing off a parlor, when they might have had far 
better materials at half the cost, by simply going to 
their own timber lots, cutting a few logs, and having 
them sawed in lumber of the desired size. Butternut, 
the various kinds of oak, chestnut, and many other 
kinds of timber, will make a beautiful finish for dining- 
room or parlor, and with a right management, in most 
localities, stuff" of the foregoing kinds of timber may 
be obtained as cheaply as pine. In many places, it 
will not cost half so much as pine lumber. It is an er- 
roneous notion that everything about a dwelling-house 
must be made of the choicest quality of pine. I have 
seen rooms finished with chestnut, or with red oak, 
and the wood-work was really beautiful. Doors, cas- 
ings, base and all, were simply dressed off" smoothly, 
then oiled and varnished. Such wood-work may be 
washed or scrajied, whenever the surface becomes dirty ; 



172 todd's country homes. 

then oiled and varnished again, and the surface kept 
neat and bright, cheaper than the same work could be 
painted. 

As the kinds of lumber just alluded to, are more 
liable to spring and warp than pine, much care should 
be exercised in having the lumber sawed of the most 
desirable size, and also to have every panel, stile, and 
piece of casing seasoned so thoroughly, before the 
doors are made, or the casings put up, that the joints 
will not open before the building has been finished a 
year. Let the lumber be sawed out not less than one- 
fourth of an inch thicker, and one inch wider, than it 
is to be dressed. Stick it up very straight, under shel- 
ter, where the air can circulate through the pile. 
After it has seasoned not less than six months, let it 
be thoroughly kiln-dried in a kiln, or store-room. 
Then, let the pieces be taken to a planing-mill, dressed 
out, and edged with a circular saw. By performing 
most of the planing and sawing by machinery, such 
hard wood may be worked with comparative ease. 
But it is a laborious and expensive job to dress out 
hard wood stuff for doors and casings by hand. For 
dressing out such hard wood stiles and casings, a hori- 
zontal planer, or timber-dresser, will be far better than 
a revolving planer. 

A COZY COTTAGE FOR A MECHANIC. 

Such a cottage will coincide perfectly with the taste 
and pecuniary circumstances of thousands of beginners, 
in all parts of the country, who are not able to fur- 
nish a parlor in a satisfactory manner. Others who 
are abundantly able, prefer to adorn the living-room, 
and thus enjoy daily, the luxuries of comfort and ease. 



mechanic's cottage. 



173 



and do not, as a few are wont to do, lavish all orna- 
ments on the parlor wall, leaving the kitchen and liv- 
ing-room comparatively unfurnished, uninviting and 
cheerless in aspect. 




PERSPECTIVE OF MECHANIC'S COTTAGE. 

The size of this cottage may be made to conform to 
the requirements of the family. But many people will 
find the plan of principal floor (No. 2) best suited to 
their wants and conveniences, for the reason that a par- 
lor is dispensed with. The chamber of the upright part 



174 



TODD S COUNTKY HOMES. 



may be divided in small rooms or^ left undivided, as the 
wants of the family will decide. 

Herein is 




a common 
error among architects 
and builders of which 
I desire to speak, viz., 
the jDlan or idea of hav- 
ing the kitchen situated 
in one of the rear rooms 
of the house, or in such 
No. 1.— PLAN OF FIRST FLOOR. ^ posltlou that a dlrcct 

view of the highway from the kitchen window is im- 
possible. 

Who is able to give good reasons to excuse this old- 
fogy style of architecture ? Ask the tens of thousands 
of American farmers' wives, who spend a great portion 

of their lives in the daily 
monotonous labor of 
kitchen duty; and, as 
far as my observation 
extends, their almost 
unanimous answer 
would be: If I were 
ever to build or have 
No. 2.-PLAN OF GROUND FLOOR. thc planulug of auothcr 
house, the kitchen would occupy a front and sightly 
position, and not be, as at present, secluded in this un- 
barred dungeon from an immediate view of the moving 
panorama of highway travel. The foregoing is penned 
in no fault-finding mood, but is offered as a suggestion 
to those whom it may concern. The entire style of 
finish of this perspective may be varied to suit the 



PEO DOOM, 
7X12, 



Sro ROOM. 
7X12 



LAUN'DUr 

AND 
V/VASUROOM. 



WOOD 
SHED 



STORE 

ROOM 



LlVrWC ROOM, 
18X14 



h 



KITCHEN. 
16 X 14. 




INCKEASING THE HEIGHT OF ROOMS. 175 

taste of the builder. There may be a gothic roof, or a 
flat roof. Instead of the style of cornice represented 
in the perspective, a neat bracket finish may be adopted 
similar to the bracket finish on a subsequent page. 
Or, if preferable, the roof may be nearly flat, and cov- 
ered with plastic slate roofing, 

HOW TO INCREASE THE HE-IGHT OF ROOMS WHEN TOO LOW. 

It is frequently very desirable to make a story, 
both below and above, one foot or more higher between 
the joints, than it was originally made. When the at- 
tic story is to be made higher, if the roof is a poor one, 
it would be the best and cheapest operation to take it 
to pieces and raise the sides to the desired height, and 
then, erect the roof as when a new house is built. But 
when a roof is a good one, and it is desirable to raise it 
any number of feet, let collar pieces be spiked to the 
rafters to keep them from spreading ; and then, raise it 
bodily with screws, with or without the plates, to the 
desired height. If the rafters are spiked very tightly 
to the plates, it will be better to raise the plates with 
the roof, and then put another set of plates in the place 
of the first ones. 

I once performed a job in less than one day, by the 
assistance of two men, of increasing the height of all 
the lower rooms of a two-story house. The lower 
rooms were eight and one-half feet between joints, and 
it was desirable to make them ten feet high. Four 
screws were placed under the side sills of the house, two 
of them a few feet from one end, and two others about 
the middle of the building. One end of the house was 
elevated about twenty inches, where it was sustained 
on shores, placed under the beams, and girts. The 



176 todd's country homes. 

sills and floor were then lowered with the screws to 
their original position, when the ends of the posts and 
studs at one end of the building, were all scarfed, or 
" spliced," and the sills were then raised again with 
the screws, and the shores were taken out, and the 
building was then lowered on the foundation. Then, 
the two end screws were placed near the other end, 
and that end was elevated and sustained on shores, 
and the floor lowered, and the remainder of the posts 
and studs were scarfed, and the shores were then 
removed, and the house lowered to its original posi- 
tion. 

Barns and out-buildings which are too low, may be 
raised, in a short period of time, ten or more feet 
higher; and the posts scarfed, at an expense of a few 
dollars. If the spaces below the main beams of a barn 
are about right, let the roof only be raised ; but, if the 
arrangement of the timbers is about as one desires, 
above, and not below the beams, raise the superstruc- 
ture and scarf the posts, or put a part of a new frame 
beneath the old one. 

A CHEAP SUBURBAN COTTAGE. 

The tasty perspective on the next page, which pre- 
sents an exceedingly attractive appearance, will meet 
the fancy and requirements of a great many small fami- 
lies, who have only a limited competence. This house 
was designed for a lot sixty feet wide, on a village 
street, and should be placed quite near the line, on the 
left-hand side of the lot, leaving the wide open space 
on the other side for a road or paths, and grass-plots. 
If desirable, in re-arranging the plan, to suit different 
localities, let a plot be drawn on paper, then turn it 



A SUBURBAN COTTAGE. 



177 



upside down; and every room will appear on the other 
side of the dwellino*. " The dimensions of this dwellintr 
may be made to suit the wants of a flxmily. The fol- 
lowing ground-plan will furnish a fair idea of the ar- 
rangement of the rooms. No. 2, represents a parlor, 
either 14 or 16 feet square. No 3, is the kitchen, 16 
by 16. No 4, is a nursery, or sleeping-room, the size 
of which will depend on the dimensions of the other 

Am 




PERSPECTIVE OF SUBURBAN COTTAGE. 



apartments. No. 5, is a pantry or sink-room ; and No. 
6, a store-room. The pantry has a pump and sink, 
and the store-room is fitted up with shelves and cup- 
boards. The stairs are in the front hall ; and under the 
principal flight is the stairway to the cellar. The 
second story has three bed-rooms, two good-sized dress- 



178 



todd's country homes. 



ing-rooihs, and a convenient bathing-room. The frame 
is made of hemlock ; the walls are filled in with brick 
laid on edge in mortar, and then sided with narrow, 

clear white-pine siding. 
The roof is covered 
with hemlock boards, 
and shingled with sawed 
cedar or pine shingles. 
The projection of the 
eaves is three and one- 
half feet; and the gables 
have scolloped edgings 
or verge-boards. The 
inside is lathed and 
plastered and hard fin- 
ished throughout. The 
floors are of pine floor- 
plank . The bases are six 
inches high, moulded, 
and the window and 
door trimmings are four 
and one-half inches wide, moulded. The doors are all 
four-paneled, one and one-quarter inches thick, moulded 
on the exposed side, and all have locks and brown 
mineral trimmings. The closets all have shelves and 
drawers and clothes-hooks. The principal story is nine 
feet high; and the chambers nine feet high in the 
center, and five feet at the eaves. The plan of the 
second floor is similar to the arrangement of the first 
floor. But, the partitions between the rooms may be 
varied at pleasure. No. 2, may be njade smaller; and 
No. 3, can be made larger. If one desires a bath-room, 




FIRST FLOOR. 



SUGGESTIONS ABOUT MORTAK. 



179 



the entire plan of the second floor may be arranged to 

suit the wants of the oc- 
cupants, as a stud parti- 
tion may be set up, on 
this floor, beneath the 
rafters, so as to make 
the rooms more of a uni- 
form size. The plan will 
not suit most people. 
But the style of archi- 
tecture, the projecting 
roof, bay window, and 
general appearance, ex- 
ternally, render it a cot- 
tage of symmetrical pro- 
portions, which is not ex- 
pensive, although it looks 

well, which is a point of eminent importance in such a 

suburban cottage. 

SUGGESTIONS ABOUT MOETAE. 

It is a common maxim, that good mortar is the life 
of masonry. For hundreds of years past, mechanics 
have made mortar; and writers have penned long es- 
says on the manner of making good mortar and poor; 
and still, the knowledge possessed is more theoretic 
than practical. 

In some portions of the Eastern hemisphere, the 
ancients had more sense in this respect than we, as 
they studied well the nature and properties of this 
great material. And they were well repaid in the en- 
durance of their structures, which, after centuries up- 
on centuries of existence, are to-day more stable and 




SECOND FLOOR. 



180 todd's country homes. 

more likely to remain, than nine-tenths of the buildings 
that we, in our generation, attempt to make lasting. 
As most people are to some extent builders, they have 
the best of reasons for desiring to know all that they 
can, as to the proper materials, and best methods of 
making and using it. Hon. George Geddes once as- 
serted, that it is not practicable to lay down in any 
form of words such instructions as shall remove every 
dif&culty, and enable all men to become masters in the 
art of compounding the necessary materials for first- 
rate mortar; but it is thought to be entirely possible 
to so present the important points involved as to aid 
most farmers in this important matter. It might be 
supposed that masons should possess all the knowledge 
necessary in regard to mortar, as they spend their lives 
in using it ; but, in fact this is not so. In great cities, 
skilled masons may yet be found; and occasionally, one 
may yet handle the trowel in the rural districts. The 
greater part of mechanics, away from large towns, have 
been led to the adoption of the branches they follow, 
more by natural taste and personal ingenuity, than 
from a settled purpose of early life, that has carried 
them through any regular apprenticeship. The schools 
have been busy teaching what have been called liigher 
branches, than the principles involved in mechanic arts ; 
and it has thus been, as a general rule, beyond the 
reach of the self-taught mason to acquire a knowledge 
of the leading principles involved in the making of the 
best mortars from the materials within his reach. 

The object aimed at in making mortar is, to produce 
a substance in a plastic form that can be molded into 
any desired shape, which will turn to stone. When 



SUGGESTIONS ABOUT MOKTAR. 181 

mortar is to be used for cementing stone or brick to 
each other, it should possess the property not only of 
attaching itself firmly to the stones or bricks, but it 
should have cohesive power that will hold its own 
parts in contact ; in fact, it should be an artificial stone 
filling all the space between the parts of the wall, and 
as strong as natural stone. 

Whatever of this hardness and strength mortar 
lacks, after a sufficient lapse of time to allow the proc- 
ess of crystallization to become complete, by just so 
much does it come short of perfection. In the admix- 
ture of the lime with the sand, for the production of 
mortar, the greatest care must be taken, that the ingre- 
dients are most intimately mixed, and that no foreign 
matter be mingled with the mass. The water, if hot, 
causes the mortar to set more rapidly ; and only suffi- 
cient should be applied to give consistency to the 
mass. The exact quantity of water to be used in 
slacking must depend on the capacity of the lime to 
absorb it. 

There are three important concomitants in making 
good mortar, which are, dean and sha7y sand, strong 
and fresli lime, and thorough working of the mortar 
after the materials have been rendered plastic. When 
there is loam and other substances in sand, it will not 
make hard mortar. The sand must be clean and sharp. 
In order to convey a fair idea of what is required in 
making mortar, it is only necessary to imagine all the 
particles of sharp sand as bowlders resting on each 
other. Now then, in order to have a hard mortar, 
after it is dry, we want to fill all the interstices be- 
tween the particles of sand with good lime. These 



182 todd's country homes. 

interstices must not be filled with clay or any other 
earthy matter. The most reliable rule for making the 
best quality of mortar is, to put all the lime in the sand, 
that can be, and not add to the bulk of the sand. If 
sand, the particles of which are of unequal dimensions, 
(some fine and some coarse,) have well slacked, lime 
of proper quality added to it, and the whole mass he 
thoroughly mixed and worked, the lime should exactly 
fill every interstice, so as to form a solid mass ; and this 
being so, crystallization will be perfect. Air-slacked 
lime should never he used in constructing permanent 
walls. In cases where it is important that the mortar 
should be set rapidly, more lime will be necessary. 

It is a very laborious job to work over the mortar 
for a large house, when it is performed by hand labor. 
When lime and sand are mingled together, and in a 
few days laid on the lath, the plaster will shrink and 
the wall will be covered with cracks, and the plaster 
will soon crumble off But if about two bushels of 
clean, sharp sand are mixed with one bushel of un- 
slacked lime, and the mass is worked over once in two 
or three weeks for a few months, a wall that is made 
of it will appear like slate, and will not crack, unless 
the building, or some parts of it change their position, 
as is frequently the case, by seasoning. In order to 
have good mortar, that may be spread like good but- 
ter, it must be mixed and worked over often enough 
to have the lime slack most thoroughly, and " to work 
the shrinkage outJ" If mortar should be worked over 
once in ten days, for a year, it would be all the better 
for it, and will make a better wall. 

To facilitate the labor of mixing mortar so frequently 



SUGGESTIONS ABOUT MORTAR. 



183 



as is desirable, when my house was erected, I con- 
structed a rude machine for mixing it with horses, 
which subserved an excellent purpose. It was a very 
cheap concern; and such a device will pay for itself 
in one day. This machine is represented by the ac- 
companying illustration. It consists of a post, a, about 
six inches in diameter, very firmly set in the ground, 
not less than three feet deep, and about two feet high. 
Put an iron band on the top to keep it from splitting. 




A MORTAR MACHINE. 



An iron bar, &, (a small crow-bar will answer,) passes 
loosely through the sweep c, into the center post, a. 
Next, lay a floor — water level — on the ground, and 
nail the side boards, which should be sixteen or twenty 
inches wide, to stakes driven into the ground. The 
side boards should be placed in an octagonal form, as 
shown in the figure, although if the sides were circular 
it would be preferable. The floor should be about 
fourteen or sixteen feet diameter in the clear. The 
sweep c, should be six inches square in the middle, 
thirteen feet long, and the outer end may be made 
smaller, or not. The paddles, or legs, should be made 
of hard wood, two by four inches square, firmly in- 
serted in the sweep, c, with a two-inch tenon, about 



184 todd's country homes. 

four inches apart. The form of the legs is shown in 
E. They are made similar to the wings of a wind- 
wheel, with the two corners, which are in a diagonal 
direction from each other, dressed off smoothly, so 
that each knife-like leg will work the mortar toward 
the center. They should be not less than three-fourths 
of an inch thick after they are dressed out. If they 
are too thin they will break in mixing stiff mortar. 

Let the lime and sand be put in ; then, hitch a horse 
at the end of the sweep, and commence mixing as the 
water is poured in, until it is so soft that it will flow 
slowly, and the surface become level. Shovel the mor- 
tar from the corners into the middle every time it is 
worked out. When a large quantity of mortar is nec- 
essary, two or more places may be made, and the same 
sweep used for all of them. When the sun shines, the 
mortar should be covered with boards. . Keep the sur- 
face of the mortar covered with water, when not work- 
ing it; and if there should be too much water, when it 
is to be worked over again, let it be dipped off. It 
should be worked over at least once in ten days, and 
should never be allowed " to set," or become so hard 
that it can not be readily worked over with a trowel. 
Let the mortar be first mixed in the spring, keeping 
it well worked all summer; and if there is as much 
lime in it as there should be, it will spread like butter, 
and make walls as smooth and hard as stone. These 
directions were followed, to the letter, in mixing the 
mortar for my own dwelling-house. Some of it was 
worked over, once in ten or twelve days, for more 
than six months before it was used, and my masons 
affirmed, that they had never before handled mortar 



SUGGESTIONS ABOUT MORTAR. 185 

that spread so neatly, and made such firm walls. The 
hair for the first coat, should never be put in until a 
few days before the mortar is be used, because the 
lime will destroy it. In separating the bunches of hair, 
some prefer to put it in a large tub, and allow it to 
soak for a few days, and then have it well stirred until 
there are no bunches; and some prefer laying it on a 
floor, and whip it to pieces with an elastic whip. 

When making mortar for plastering a house^if clean 
pit sand be used three parts of sand are mixed with 
one of lime. If river or sea sand be made use of, two 
parts of sand are given to one of lime, which will be 
found a proper proportion. If to river or sea sand, 
potsherds ground and passed through a sieve, in the 
proportion of one-third part, be added, the mortar will 
be still better. 

Mortar for outside walls that are exposed to the 
weather, should have some hydraulic lime in it. All 
foundations that take moisture from the earth should 
be made of hydraulic lime. It will take more hy- 
draulic lime to make a given quantity of mortar than 
it will of quicklime, and generally it will cost more, 
but if the structure is a valuable one, the increased 
cost will be justifiable. I have used equal parts of 
quick and hydraulic lime in stone walls, and was well 
satisfied with the cement. Above the water tables of 
stone buildings, this mixture of the two kinds of lime 
does very well. In laying either stone or brick, it is 
important to use strong pressure to compact the mortar 
in the joints. The mason does this on stone by the 
free use of his hammer, and on brick by striking each 
brick as it is laid smartly with the handle of his trowel. 



186 todd's country homes. 

This is important, and in pointing, the mortar should 
be well pressed into the joints, and thoroughly com- 
pacted. 

The usual practice among builders has been, for a 
long time past, to lay on one thin coat of mortar with 
which hair has been mingled, smooth the surface with 
a trowel, then sweep it with a stiff broom, for the pur- 
pose of rendering the surface rough, so that the next 
coat will adhere with more firmness than if the second 
coat were spread on a smooth surface. The first, or 
the "scratch-coat," is then allowed to become dry be- 
fore the second coat is laid on. When the second coat 
is put on, the moisture of the mortar is absorbed so 
rapidly by the dry wall that the wall is not so hard or 
durable as if it had been a long time drying. Every 
intelligent mason knows that where mortar is dried 
rapidly it has very little tenacity. Masons say of such 
mortar, "it has no strength." When mortar is em- 
ployed in laying up very dry bricks, the dampness will 
be absorbed so quickly that the mortar will bind the 
bricks together but little better than clay. But if the 
bricks be saturated with water, so that the mortar takes 
several days to dry, the bricks and mortar will unite so 
firmly that, when dry, they can be separated only with 
great difficulty. Yet the mortar in both instances is 
the same before it is laid between the courses of brick. 
The rapid drying in one instance materially injures its 
strength, while drying slowly secures the greatest pos- 
sible tenacity and firmness. This same fact is observ- 
able when a second coat of mortar is spread on the dry 
"scratch-coat" of a wall. The wall will never be so 
firm as it would have been had all the mortar been 



SUGGESTIONS ABOUT MORTAR. 187 

spread on the lath in a single coat and finished oS at 
once. 

In order to satisfy ourselves that one heavy coat of 
mortar will make a better wall than two light or thin 
coats, let us look into the philosophy of the change 
which the mortar undergoes during the process of hard- 
ening. Colloquially, we say, "the mortar has set" 
when it changes from a plastic to a solid state. If the 
mortar be allowed to dry slowly, there will be an im- 
portant chemical change. Carbonic acid, which gives 
solidity to limestones, and which is expelled when lime 
is burned, will be absorbed by the plastic mortar, and 
will unite with the lime, forming a very porous car- 
bonate of lime. The process must necessarily be very 
slow. Therefore, the moisture in the mortar must re- 
main for a long time, or the process of hardening will 
not progress. If a coat of mortar be spread on a hot 
stove, the water that renders the lime and sand plastic 
will be driven off so quickly that the process of hard- 
ening by chemical affinity will be very incomplete, for 
mortar will not harden after it has become dry. But 
let an equal portion of the same kind of mortar be 
spread on a cold plate of iron, and kept in a close, cool 
room, where the process of hardening will be going on 
for several weeks, and it will be seen that th.e mortar 
which was allowed to dry slowly will be firm and tena- 
cious like slate, while that piece which was dried rapidly 
on a hot plate of iron will be entirely destitute of es- 
sential firmness and solidity. These facts naturally 
suggest the important inquiry as to how to make the 
best wall. The most important point to be kept in 
view is, to avoid, as far as practicable, rapid drying of 



188 todd's country homes. 

the mortar. A house should therefore never be plas- 
tered in hot weather. Very early in the spring would 
be better than summer. But late in autumn will al- 
ways be found the best season for plastering, as the 
process of drying will be going on for several weeks, 
thus favoring largely the chemical process of harden- 
ing. Were a dwelling erected in the former part of 
the growing season, the plastering should not be done 
till the last month of autumn, as the walls would be 
all the better for allowing the casings, studs, and 
other wood-work to become thoroughly seasoned be- 
fore the mortar is laid on the lath. Before the first 
coat of mortar is laid on, a hand-hydropult should 
be employed in every room, to wet the lath. And 
in order to have this job performed thoroughly, the 
lath should be sprinkled several times before the mor- 
tar is applied. 

I know that most masons will sneer at this sugges- 
tion. But reason and experience assure us that it will 
be better to wet the lath before the mortar is applied, 
so that the dry and porous wood will not absorb the 
moisture from the mortar, which is eminently essential 
to the hardening of the wall. The labor of fifteen 
minutes with a hand-hydropult in wetting the lath of 
a room, before the mortar is laid on, would be worth 
the value of many dollars in securing a hard and tough 
wall. There is no uncertainty on this subject. Were 
one side of a room lathed with wire-cloth, and another 
side with wooden lath, and the same kind of mortar 
applied to both, it would be seen that the wall on the 
iron lath would be much tougher and harder than the 
mortar on the wooden lath, simply because the dry 



HYDKAULIC MORTAR. 189 

wood absorbed the water from the mortar, which was 
essential to the chemical process of hardening. 

After the lath has been thoroughly sprinkled with 
water, let a coat of mortar with which a liberal supply 
of hair has been mingled be laid on the lath. Then, 
by the time that room is finished, the mason may com- 
mence where he plastered first, and lay on the second 
coat, in which there is no hair. The first coat will 
have set sufficiently by this time to remain intact, and 
yet the mortar will be so green, or fresh, that there 
will be a complete union between the two coats. If a 
third coat of "hard-finish" is yet to be applied, the 
plastic should be run on before the first mortar has be- 
come quite dry. By adopting this practice, the walls 
will not only be very much firmer, but the expense of 
mason-work will be much less. 

HYDRAULIC MORTAR. 

This kind of mortar is made of the best quality of 
sand and hydraulic cement, or what is often spoken of 
as water-lime which is a species of lime which, when 
mingled with sand and rendered plastic by adding wa- 
ter, will harden in wet places, or even under water, 
where mortar made of common lime (oxide of calcium) 
and sand would never become hard. Water-lime is 
the hydraulic cement of commerce, which is usually 
bought and sold in a powdered condition by the bushel 
or barrel. Water-lime is merely the common lime 
(oxide of calcium) combined with a sufficient quantity 
of iron, manganese, silex, alumina, and some other for- 
eign matter to prevent slacking. Chemists tell us that 
when forty parts of clay are added to one hundred parts 
of lime, the mixture will not slack by the application 



190 todd's country homes. 

of water. But if the mixture be reduced to powder by 
grinding, mingled with sand and wrought into mortar, 
it will harden rapidly. In order to determine the value 
of water-limestone, the fragments must be burned in 
a kiln, ground to powder, and made into mortar while 
fresh. Old water-lime loses the capacity to harden af- 
ter it has been ground to powder a few months. Wa- 
ter-lime should be tested frequently when mortar is 
being made with it, as there is much sold which is of 
very little value. Water-lime of the best quality, is 
alone suitable for walls that are to resist the direct ac- 
tion of water. Remembering that all mortar made of 
lime and sand shrinks in setting, it follows that large 
stone bedded in even the best hydraulic mortar, cannot 
be depended upon for a wall that will be secure against 
water leaking through it. Plastering on the side next 
the water is therefore necessary in the construction of 
cisterns, and this is not always a perfect protection. 
After the plastering is dry, make a wash of hydraulic 
lime, and go over the plastering several times with this 
wash, using a brush as in whitewashing. This will close 
up the fine cracks if there are any, and the wall will 
then be perfectly tight. 

In mortar made of quicklime for brick-work by ma- 
chinery, it has been found that one bushel of unslaked 
lime that did not quite double its bulk by slaking, made 
a sufficient quantity to fill all the interstices of five 
bushels of fine sand — and this was abundantly rich in 
lime. But it must be remembered that this mortar 
was made by machinery, and the power was not spared 
in mixing. Mixed coarse and fine sand requires less 
lime than fine sand. The superiority of ancient mor- 



MASON-WORK IN" FREEZING WEATHER. 191 

tar consisted, as I have tried to show, first in the se- 
lection of materials ; but it consisted, secondly, in the 
great amount of labor that was given to the mixing 
and working the mortar. Very little water was used, 
but an immense amount of labor. Felibien says, "It is 
a maxim among old masons to their laborers that they 
should dilute with the sweat of their brow, i. e., labor 
it a long time instead of drowning it with water to 
have done the sooner." The whole secret of what has 
been considered the lost art of making the Roman ce- 
ment lay in the skill in selecting and in the manipula- 
tion of the materials. The climate of Italy is mild, 
and time has completed the work. In addition to my 
own experience in the use of this kind of mortar, I 
have availed myself of the experience of Hon. George 
Geddes, who has favored me with some of the foregoing 
suggestions. 

DOING MASON-WORK IN FREEZING WEATHER. 

K it is possible to avoid doing mason- work in hot 
weather, as well as in freezing, the work will always be 
stronger and better, in every respect, as no mortar 
will harden satisfactorily in hot weather, or in cold 
weather. Still, many builders and masons have con- 
tended that if a wall of either brick or stone is laid in 
mortar, when the weather is so cold as to freeze every- 
thing up tight, it will not injure the mortar, provided 
the wall remains frozen, until the mortar has had suffi- 
cient opportunity to become quite dry, while the tem- 
perature of the weather continued below freezing point. 
It is true that when mortar can remain in an atmos- 
phere below zero, until it has dried out, it will appear 
quite firm. But reason and experience teach that any 



192 todd's country homes. 

mortar will be far better, in every respect, if it can be 
allowed to dry gradually for several months, when the 
atmosphere is above freezing point. When mortar in 
a plastic state, freezes and thaws, every practical builder 
knows, that the strength of the lime is nearly destroyed. 
If hard pieces of good mortar be exposed to the influ- 
ences of alternate rain and frost, the strength of the 
lime will be overcome, and the mortar will disintegrate, 
and become like dry ashes in a few weeks. These facts, 
familiar to every observing mechanic, assure us that 
there will be but little strength in a wall that is laid 
up in freezing weather. The hardening process which 
mortar undergoes, before it has really become as com- 
pact as it will be, is a slow chemical change. As the 
water in the mortar disappears, the lime must have a 
long period to absorb carbonic acid from the atmos- 
phere, for the purpose of increasing the solidity of the 
mortar. Brick chimney tops are often carried up in 
cold weather ; and the result is that, in many instances, 
there is but little more strength in the brick-work, than 
if a mortar of ashes had been employed. The same is 
true of brick walls of, dwelling-houses that are built in 
cold weather. When the weather is so cold that hot 
water must be employed to temper the mortar, and to 
keep it from freezing, until it can be used, the entire 
wall will freeze up tight in the course of a few hours. 
The result is, that, " there is no bond in the mortar," 
as masons express it. The strength of the lime has 
been destroyed, just as the power of lime to form a 
good mortar is destroyed, when it is allowed to ^' air- 
slack" before it is mingled with sand. 



CHAPTEE TV. 

PAINTING AND ORNAMP^NTATION. 

The Philosophy of Painting — Painting Buildings and Implements — Ma- 
terials for making Paint — Linseed Oil — Boiling Oil — White Lead Paint 
— How to Paint an Old House — Various kinds of Paint — Painting 
Window Sashes — Putty — Putty Knife — Whitewashing — Calcimining 
— Hanging Wall Paper. 

The Philosophy of PAiNTiNG.^-When moisture 
comes in contact with iron, there is a chemical union; 
the oxygen of the air unites with the iron, and forms 
oxide of iron, or, what is familiarly called rust. There- 
fore, every time any rust is formed, the surface of the 
iron is rendered rougher and rougher. When water, 
or moisture, comes in contact with wood, the grain of 
the wood is raised ; and when it comes to dry, the wood 
shrinks; and this shrinking and swelling will soon in- 
jure the surface, rendering it rough. 

Now, in order to prevent water from injuring the sur- 
face of wood, or iron, we spread a covering over it, to 
exclude the water, just as we cover a horse with oil 
cloth to keep him dry ; only, when we paint we apply 
the blanket, or covering, while it is in a liquid state. 
This covering soon changes into a thin pellicle, or 
blanket, which will exclude the water. Therefore, by 
excluding the moisture, we keep the grain of the wood 
smooth, and the surface of iron bright tind smooth also. 

13 



194 todd's country homes. 

Any material, therefore, that may be spread thinly on 
the surface of wood, or of iron, and thus exclude the 
influence of water, will make a good paint. The phi- 
losophy of painting is, therefore, the protection of the 
surface of buildings and implements from the injurious 
effect of wet and dry weather. 

Painting Buildings and Farming Implements. — 
Farmers should know how to paint their buildings, 
tools and farming implements in a neat and workman- 
like manner; and they may just as well do all their 
own painting and varnishing as to pay some painter 
twice as much as it is actually worth to perform a given 
job. In the spring and during warm days in winter, 
and at any other season of the year, if a farmer has 
only a little instruction in preparing paint and putting 
it on, he, and those in his employ, may do all the paint- 
ing, when they could do nothing else, which would be 
of much account. Farmers are quite apt to think that 
it requires a vast amount of wisdom and skill to pre- 
pare paint and put it on; and some painters like to 
make them think that it is far better to pay a very ex- 
orbitant price to a painter to have an implement painted 
than to undertake to do it themselves, and then fail. 
But there is no danger of failing in ordinary painting. 
Suppose the first, or even the second coat of paint, hap- 
pens to be a little too thick or too thin, when it is put on. 
After it is on, it will preserve the timber just as well — 
which is the chief object in painting — and no one will 
care to know, so far as ^'looks'' are concerned, after 
the implement has been used twice, whether a novice 
or an experienced workman painted it. After the first 
coat of paint is Hry, let every crack and nail-hole be 



PHILOSOPHY OF PAINTIN"G. 195 

filled with putty. Never putty nail-holes before apply- 
ing one coat of paint, as the putty will not adhere sat- 
isfactorily to wood. If nail-holes are not filled with 
paint or putty, the water that will be absorbed around 
the nails, wall soon cause the wood to decay. The bet- 
ter way for people who have but little painting to do, 
is to procure a small pail of paint, and purchase boiled 
oil, rather than raw or unboiled oil. A genuine article 
of either paint or oil can be selected only by experts. 
A small tin pail of white lead, ground in oil, will be 
sufficient to paint a great many tools. Should the 
paint not all be used, let the surface be covered with 
oil, and the lid kept on, and the paint will not become 
hard for ten years, so long as the pail is kept in a cel- 
lar. In order to derive the full advantage of paint, the 
joints of wood-work should be thoroughly painted, before 
the pieces are put together. Window-frames should be 
painted when .the sills and jamb-casings are joined to- 
gether. The painter ought always to follow the wood- 
w^orker, before any part of the work has been allowed 
to get wet. After a planed board has been wet once 
or twice, the surface will be rough, the pores of the 
wood will open, and much m.ore paint will be required 
to cover a given surface, than would have been nec- 
essary before the surface was wet. It is better for the 
building and far more economical to paint it frequently, 
thus keeping every part in prime order, than to allow 
portions most exposed to become shabby, and to suflfer 
for want of paint. 

For painting farm implements and tools of any kind 
when the object is chiefly to protect the materials from 
rain and sunshine, let a quantity of white lead be pre- 



196 todd's country homes. 

pared, as for painting white. Now, put in either blue 
paint, yellow paint, black, red, or any other color, 
adding, also, more oil and liquid-drier, until the desired 
color has been formed. It is best to use white lead for 
the purpose of forming more of a hody, or impervious 
covering on the wood, than other paint will make. 
Paint may also be made by simply stirring Venetian 
red or Brandon yellow, both of which are very cheap, 
into boiled oil and liquid-drier, until the mass is of the 
consistence of thin cream. A half pint of drier mingled 
with two quarts of boiled oil will cause good paint to 
dry in twenty-four hours. 

Materials for Making Paint. — Any substance that 
will become dry, after it is applied to the surface of 
wood, or iron, and which will form a thin pellicle, or 
blanket, that will exclude water, will make good paint. 
Linseed oil is of such a nature that it will soon dry, 
when spread out thin, and will form a cover, that 
will exclude water. For this reason there is no other 
kind of oil that is equal to linseed oil, for painting. 
There is so much grease, or oleaginous substance, in 
lamp oil, kerosene, and sweet oil, that they will not 
dry like linseed oil. For this reason such oils are not 
good for painting. 

Paint is mingled with oil, for the purpose of keeping 
the oil as much on the surface as possible, and for mak- 
ing a thicker and heavier coat, or pellicle, which wall 
resist the action of the atmosphere, or the influence of 
wet and dry. The material, therefore, which will make 
the toughest and most durable covering, w^hen spread 
out thinly, will be found to subserve the most satisfac- 
tory purpose as a paint. 



MATERIALS FOR MAKING PAINT. 197 

Good linseed oil is superior to any other known ma- 
terial for painting outside work, as it forms such a 
tough pellicle. This oil is expressed from flax-seed. 
The shining slippery seed is usually ground by being 
crushed beneath a pair of very heavy stones called 
"chasers" which revolve on the periphery like a cart 
wheel crushing the seed beneath their ponderous 
weight. Flax-seed cannot be ground, advantageously, 
in an ordinary grist-mill, as the oil in the seed will 
cause the meal to clog between the stones. In some 
mills the seed is first passed through iron rollers, to be 
crushed or ground. One of these rollers is made to 
revolve more rapidly than the other, which subjects 
each seed to a pulling as well as to a crushing process. 
The meal is taken from the mill to the "chasers," 
where it is subjected to another crushing process, 
more severe than the first. The chasers are two large 
circular stones, about five feet in diameter and eighteen 
inches thick, rolling upon a third stone in the same 
manner of an old-fashioned bark or cider-mill. These 
heavy stones start the oil from the seed. And to keep 
it from adhering to the chasers it is moistened with 
water. The meal is next put into an iron cylinder, 
which is kept revolving over a fire until the water is 
evaporated. Much of the skill of making oil depends 
upon this heating process. It must not be scorched. 
And yet, it must be brought up to a high temperature, 
so that it will readily give out its oil. The meal is 
kept under pressure about an hour; and two presses 
will work up about ninety-six bushels of seed every 
twenty-four hours. The mill is usually kept running 
night and day. The product is not far from two gal- 



198 todd's countey homes. 

Ions of oil from a bushel of seed, a little more or less, 
according to the quality of the seed and the skill in 
pressing. The process of making cotton-seed oil and 
cake is nearly the same. 

Suggestions about Boiling Oil. — We boil oil for 
the purpose of evaporating or driving off the oleagin- 
ous or greasy portion of it, so that it will dry more 
readily. Some painters have told beginners, that oil 
must be boiled, until it will burn a feather or quill. 
This rule is not correct, for oil will burn a quill be- 
fore it is boiled half enough. Any person who know^s 
how to make molasses and sugar, can boil oil well. 
All that is necessary, in order to boil well, is to keep 
a steady fire, just hot enough to make the oil roll 
gently, for at least three or four hours. Let a table- 
spoonful of litharge be put into about one gallon of oil 
before it is boiled ; and when the oil is boiling, it is 
well to stir it often, should anything settle to the bot- 
tom of the kettle. 

When adulterated linseed is being boiled, there will 
be a great waste, as a large part of the poor oil will be 
driven off by evaporation. If spirits of turpentine, 
benzine, or petroleum be mingled with linseed, during 
the boiling, they will all be driven off and lost. There- 
fore, if one can procure a pure article of linseed oil, it 
will be far more economical, in the end, for outside 
work, than cheap, adulterated oil. 

Making Paint of White Lead. — If the white lead, 
or zinc white, has been ground fine, as it always should 
be before it is used, mingle boiled oil enough with it 
to make it about of the consistence of thick cream. 
Then pour in lacquer enough to make it thin enough to 



now TO PAINT AN OLD HOUSE. 199 

spread readily with a brush. Good paint will always 
show for itself when it is just thick enough to flow well. 

We usually make white paint, and then obtain any 
other desired color by mingling paint of other color 
with the white. I refer to ordinary painting. White 
lead will form a good body of paint so much cheaper 
than blue or green, or some kinds of yellow, that we 
use it in preference to making paint of a given kind 
that is very expensive. 

How TO Paint an Old House. — When the paint 
has disappeared to such an extent that the surface of 
the siding is rough and full of minute sun-cracks, the 
dry and porous wood will absorb three times as much 
oil as will be required to cover the same extent of sur- 
face were the siding new and just planed. Indeed, 
the absorptive capacity of such weather-beaten lumber 
is so great, that the dry grain of the timber will ab- 
sorb a large proportion of the oil and leave the paint 
on the surface, where it will shortly dry into a powder, 
and the storms will remove it in a comparatively brief 
period. 

The grand object in covering the surface of the sid- 
ing with paint is, to protect the grain of the wood from 
getting soaked with water, as the grain expands every 
time water is applied to it, and contracts, forming 
cracks on the surface whenever it has an opportunity 
to become dry. These are the conditions and difficul- 
ties to be met. The object will be to cover the surface 
of the old boards with a durable coat of paint, at the 
cheapest possible expense. If good oil paint be applied 
until the small cracks are all filled, and until the po- 
rous grain of the dry w^ood will absorb no more oil, a 



200 todd's countet homes. 

coat of paint will be formed that will wear almost an 
age. But the large quantity required would cost much 
more than most people will care to expend in painting 
an old house, when some cheaper material will subserve 
the same satisfactory purpose. The idea is to fill the 
porous and cracked surface with a cheap material that 
will prevent the oil from separating from the paint and 
entering; the wood. It is not essential to the dura- 
bility of the siding that the wood beneath the surface 
be saturated with oil, so long as the surface is properly 
protected with a thin coating impervious to water. 

Before the oil paint is laid on, make a gallon of good 
paste, of wheaten or rye flour, then have ready a pound 
of cheap rice and a half pound of cheap glue boiled to 
a consistence as thin as very thin molasses, that may 
be poured out quickly, and stir the three ingredients 
together while they are hot, and apply it with a brush, 
so as to fill up all the sim-cracks and cover the rough 
surface of the siding, thus forming a smooth foundation 
for the oil paint. A larger quantity may be made with 
the same proportion of material, as I have indicated. 
The siding should be scraped clean and smooth, in case 
moss has collected on the surface, and sizing sufficient 
to fill the cracks should be applied with care, while 
warm, by some person who will lay it on smoothly. In 
case it be daubed on too thickly, a heavy scale will be 
liable to peel off. Cover the coat of sizing immediately 
with good oil paint. A few gallons of such sizing cost- 
ing only a few dimes, will save more than fifty dollars 
in painting a building. If this sizing is allowed to get 
soaked with warm rains, before the oil paint is applied, 
much of it will be washed away. 



VARIOUS KINDS OF PAINT. 201 

Dead- WHITE Paint. — Take the best kind of white 
lead, or zinc white, and grind it in the purest linseed 
oil. Then mingle with it Demar varnish, or white var- 
nish, sufficient to make it thin enough to flow well from 
a brush. If paint be prepared in this way, of good 
materials, it will be dry in a few hours after it has 
been laid on. In case one has not access to a good 
paint-mill, it would be as well to purchase a small can 
of white lead, that has been ground. 

To MAKE A Light Lead Color. — Let the paint be 
prepared as for dead-white paint, in the direction just 
given, and then mingle a very little lamp-black with 
it. As much as one can take up on the point of a 
small knife will color a dish of white paint. Care 
must be exercised, lest too much black be put in. The 
black may be ground fine with the blade of a large 
knife. 

Blue Paint. — In the first place, prepare white paint 
(see making white paint,) and then mingle blue paint 
with it, and stir it thoroughly, until no streaks can be 
discovered in it. Then dip your brush, and paint a 
little. If it seems too light colored, put in more blue, 
until it appears dark enough. A small quantity of blue 
paint will make a large quantity of paint, if it be pre- 
pared in this manner. Blue makes the neatest and 
most durable paint for painting tools and implements. 

Green Paint. — There are several kinds of green 
paint, to which we cannot allude in these very brief 
directions, which will all make good paint. Examine 
the green paints at the store. Make a white paint (see 
white paint), and then mingle green paint with it — 
stirring it thoroughly — until it appears to be of right 



202 todd's country homes. 

color and shade. The more green there is pnt in, the 
darker will be the paint. Green paint is usually very 
heavy ; therefore care must be exercised to have it of 
the proper consistence, or not too thick. If it be too 
thick, it will not flow freely from the brush, and will 
not be smooth when it is dry. 

Red Paint. — Red paint is frequently made of oil, 
lacquer and Venetian red. This will make a very dull- 
looking red, and very cheap also. To make red of a 
lighter color, make white paint as directed, and then 
mingle red lead, or any other kind of red paint, with 
the white, to suit the fancy. 

Paint is sometimes made of pure red lead, oil and 
lacquer. But, as red lead is so very heavy, it is rather 
difficult to lay it on smoothly, unless in a very warm 
room, and unless a person has had some experience in 
painting. These directions have been prepared to aid 
beginners, in very ordinary painting. 

Care of Paint Brushes. — Hold a new brush, with 
the hair end up and handle down, and open the bris- 
tles, and pour in about a spoonful of good varnish. 
Allow the varnish to become dry; and the brush will 
never shed its bristles when it is used in painting. 
The varnish will also keep brushes from shrinking and 
falling to pieces. 

Brushes are usually kept in water, to prevent their 
drying up — but water is not half so good as oil for 
keeping them soft and pliable. 

As soon as you have finished a job of painting, wipe 
out the brush clean, and wrap it in a piece- of paper 
and hang it in a small deep vessel, containing oil, let- 
ting the brush descend into the oil up to the wrapping 



VARIOUS KINDS OF PAINT. 203 

cord. In this way brushes of different colors, and even 
varnish brushes, can be clean and always ready for 
immediate use. It is impossible to keep brushes, and 
especially varnish brushes, soft and pliable in water. 

To MAKE Rough Paint smooth. — When paint has 
become rough by cracks, and when there are small 
seams in the wood that cannot be filled with putty, 
take a few spoonfuls of white lead (English white lead 
is best) and mix it up with boiled oil and lacquer, about 
as thick as it can be mixed. Then take a small portion 
of it at a time and rub it into the cracks with the 
fingers, until the surface of the paint is smooth and 
even. Now smooth it ofi" with a stiff" brush, dipped in 
benzole or in spirits of turpentine, and let it dry. This 
is the easiest and most expeditious way to make the 
surface of rough paint smooth. 

To MAKE Shellac Varnish. — Put a quantity of 
shellac in a bottle and pour in alcohol enough to cover 
it. Cork it tight, and place it on a shelf in a warm 
room, where the shellac will dissolve. Shake the bot- 
tle occasionally ; and, if it is not all dissolved in three 
or four days, put in a little more alcohol. , This forms 
a good varnish, for varnishing almost any thing, which 
will dry in half an hour.. 

To MAKE OLD Varnish DRY. — Poor vamisli some- 
times, when applied to furniture, is a source of vexa- 
tion. To make it dry and hard, apply a coat of ben- 
zole, or spirits of turpentine, with a varnish brush, in 
a warm room. After tvfo or three days, apply a coat 
of good varnish, and let it dry thoroughly before using 
the furniture. This is a certain remedy for "sticky" 
varnish. Good varnish will always become hard in a 



204 todd's country homes. 

short time, while cheap varnish, sometimes will not be- 
come hard in several years. 

Coal-Tar, or Tar Paint. — But very few people 
appreciate the value of this substance as a preserva- 
tive of wood and iron, when it is used as a paint. It 
possesses wonderful antiseptic properties, and there is 
no kind of oil paint that will preserve wood or iron 
from decay, when it is exposed to the weather, equal to 
coal-tar. It is less durable when it is exposed to sun- 
shine than when it is always in the shade, or in wet 
and damp places. This peculiarity makes it one of the 
most valuable substances that can be used for painting 
the ends of fence posts that are in the ground. No 
other substance is equal to it. Gas companies, who 
were accustomed to use iron pipe, are now using wooden 
pipes, which have been saturated in coal-tar, and there 
is no doubt that such wooden pipes will last for one 
hundred years. One of the members of the gas com- 
pany in Ithaca, told me that they had examined wooden 
pipes saturated with gas-tar, which had been under 
ground for twenty- two years, and they showed no 
decay. 

The way to make it dry. — Gas-tar needs no prep- 
aration, only for painting tools and imj)lements. It 
needs something to make it dry. For this purpose, let 
it be warmed in an iron kettle — not boiled — and min- 
gled with about one quart of benzole to one gallon of 
gas-tar. This will make a beautiful black varnish, 
which will dry in a few hours. If it does not dry 
quickly enough, put in a little more benzole. 

Benzole. — Benzole is a volatile and nearly transpa- 
rent fluid, which has the appearance of spirits of tur- 



PORTABLE STAGING FOR A ROOF. 205 

pentine. It can be obtained at most drug-stores, at 
about fifty cents per gallon. It is frequently used as a 
good substitute for spirits of turpentine, and is very 
much cheaper than that liquid, and for some purposes, 
it is far more effective than it. 

The way to paint Window-Blinds. — There is a 
correct rule for painting window-blinds, in order to do 
it neatly and quickly. In the first place, nail a strip of 
wood an inch or two in width across the end of a 
barrel; two barrels will make two benches for resting 
the blinds on. Place them just far enough apart, so 
that the ends of the blinds will rest on the sticks on the 
ends of the barrels ; lay the blind down flatly and paint 
along the inside of the stiles and the sides of the slats, 
near the ends; turn the blind on one edge, and paint 
the nery ends of the slats, and smooth off the inside of 
the stiles and bars ; now paint the slats and the adjust- 
ing rod, and the last thing, paint the stiles and bars. 
When the paint on blinds is drying, keep the slats 
open; and do not put so much paint into the sockets 
of the slats as to prevent their being folded or adjusted 
easily. Let the ends of the stiles of blinds and doors be 
thoroughly painted to exclude water. When the ends 
are not painted, rnucli water will be taken up by the 
wood, to the serious injury of the timber. 

Portable Staging for a Roof. — The accompany- 
ing figure represents a portable staging to be placed on 




the roof of a building when one is painting the roof. 
It consists of a plank with three cleats nailed across it, 



206 todd's country homes. 

as shown in the illustration, and legs with iron points in 
the ends of them, to support one side of the plank, and 
an iron-pointed spike passes through the other end of 
the cleat. The legs are made just long enough to hold 
the staging in a level position when it is on the noof. 
The pointed spikes keep it from sliding, when a work- 
man is on it. 

Painting AND Glazing Window-Sashes. — The most 
common way of managing window-sashes is, to paint 
them with a very thin coat of paint, and then, set the 
glass. But this is by no means the better way; be- 
cause, the expense of painting, after the panes of glass 
are all set with putty, will cost more than twice as 
much labor as will be required to paint the same sur- 
face before the glass is set. 

The true way is to fit the sashes first, to their re- 
spective frames. Then, apply two heavy coats of 
paint. Let the bottom and edges of the bars be 
painted, as well as the sides. Never allow glass to be 
set before a heavy coat of good white lead and oil 
paint is applied to that part of the bars where the 
putty comes in contact with the wood. Putty some- 
times peels off, after a house has been built a year, or a 
few years. Putty will not adhere, satisfactorily, to 
wood, unless the surface, is first covered with a heavy 
coat of paint ; except where the wood is not exposed 
to the influences of wet and dry weather. 

How TO MAKE Good Putty. — The putty of com- 
merce, that is usually kept for sale at stores, is some- 
times miserably poor stuff for setting window-glass, as 
it will never harden. The better way is to procure a 
few pounds of whiting, wet it with linseed oil, either 



HOW TO MAKE GOOD PUTTY. 207 

raw or boiled, and knead it, as dough is prepared for 
bread. Boiled oil will make putty harder than it will 
be, if the whiting be mixed with raw oil. Putty can 
be colored, by mingling with it paint of any desired 
color. When much white lead, or red lead is used in 
making putty, it will become very hard, after a few 
months. The putty of commerce is sometimes pre- 
pared with a poor quality of whale oil, that will never 
make hard putty. Wheat flour may be mingled with 
putty, when it is not sufficiently stiff to work smoothly. 
But, wheat flour will render putty extremely hard. 

To keep putty from drying, so as to be unfit for use, 
wrap it in an oiled paper, or put it in a tin cup, and cover 
it with oil. Every family should keep a little putty, at 
hand, and a putty knife also, so that a pane of glass 
may be set at pleasure, without being obliged to em- 
ploy an itinerant jobber, at an extortionate rate. 

It is frequently desirable to use a kind of putty that 
is called " hard stopper," such as carriage makers use 
to putty up cracks in their work. Such '' hard stop- 
per " is made thus : Take dry white lead, and mix with 
one-third turpentine and two-thirds English varnish; 
then pound it well, until it is as stiff as you like it. 
After this stopper is pressed into cracks it should always 
be allowed to get hard, before a coat of paint is put 
over it. If you wish your putty to dry very quick, 
put in more turpentine, or about the same amount as 
you do of varnish. 

How TO Putty m Glass. — Spread a few thicknesses of 
paper on a table, or work-bench, and lay a window-sash 
on it. The paper will prevent the paint getting marred. 
Lay the panes in their places, with the convex, or 



208 todd's countky noMEs. 

rounding side up. Spring the middle down to its place, 
and fasten it there with glaziers' points, a paper of 
which can be purchased at hardware stores, for a few 
cents. Or, points may be cut out of a piece of thick 
tin, with a pair of sheep-shears. 

The most convenient instrument for driving in the 
points is, a large chisel, having square edges. Some 
panes of glass will require four to six points to hold 
them down to the wood ; while some others will need 
only two points. When the edges of glass spring up 
and down, it will be found difficult to apply the putty 
satisfactorily. 

How TO MAKE A PuTTY Knife. — Take a piece of 
band-iron about one-eighth of an inch thick, and one- 
inch and one-half wide, and six or eight inches long, 
and cut off the corners on one end, as shown by the 



A PUTTY KNIFE. 

accompanying figure, and punch a hole in the other 
end to hang it up by. Now, grind the corners 
smoothly and true, and grind it flat on one side and 
bevel it on the other side like a chisel. After grind- 
ing it, scour it bright on a whetstone of very fine 
grit, or with scouring brick, so that it will slip well 
on the putty. If the surface is coarse, rough or rusty, 
the putty will not slip on it, and cannot be spread 
well with it. 

What ails the Paint that it does not dry ? 
— Sometimes a good painter is so unsuccessful as to get 
on a coat of paint that will never become hard, and in 
warm weather, particularly, everything that comes in 



PUTTY XNIFE^ PAINT, ETC. 209 

contact with it will adhere to it. The fault usually is 
in the oil or lacquer, or in both. Sometimes the oil was 
scorched a little when being boiled, and sometimes the 
lacquer was good for nothing. 

The remedy in such a case would depend a little on 
circumstances. If there is a heavy coat of poor paint, 
which is not very smooth, the better way would be to 
remove it with some tool that will take it off smoothly. 
A thin piece of steel, two or three inches square, as 
thick as a hand-saw blade, ground square across on the 
edge, with a little scraping edge turned over on one 
side, as cabinet-makers prepare such a device for scrap- 
ing or dressing up mahogany, will be a good tool for 
that purpose. Let the paint all be scraped off smooth, 
and good paint laid on. When such paint is very thin, 
and sticks but little, it may be well moistened with 
spirits of turpentine, or benzine, and afterward painted 
with paint that will be hard when it is dry. Some- 
times, by giving the poor paint a coat of Demar varnish 
or shellac, it will not stick. 

Old paint should always be thoroughly cleaned before 
a new coat is applied. When it is a little dirty or 
greasy the best of paint will not stick well. Tools and 
implements that have tar or lamp oil on them should 
be well cleaned before painting; otherwise the paint 
will not stick and dry well. Sometimes when the oil 
is cold and stiff, and the wood or iron to be painted is 
freezing cold, all the skill and ingenuity of a painter 
cannot spread the paint and have it dry satisfactorily. 
Paint and varnish will crawl when everything is not all 
right. If varnish or paint will not remain where it is 
applied, warm the oil, or the varnish, and warm the 

14 



210 todd's country homes. 

materials to be painted, and kee-p everything warm 
until the paint is dry. 

Sanding Paint. — It is frequently desirable to sand 
paint, to keep idlers from marking the surface, or from 
whittling the edges and corners of the work. The 
most convenient way to sand paint of any kind is, to 
have a dredging-box made of tin, of sufficient capacity 
to contain about one quart, with a handle on one end, 
and the other perforated, with numerous small holes. 
Dry the sand and pass it through a fine sieve. Then, 
lay on a heavy coat of paint, over a square yard or 
two, and throw sand into it, with the dredging-box, 
until the paint will retain no more. If a heavy coat 
is required, let the first coat of sand be painted with a 
heavy coat of thick paint, and another layer of sand 
applied. The color of the sand, will, of course, modify 
the color of the paint. 

How TO Whitewash Neatly. — The reason why 
people drop about as much on the floor, as they spread 
on the wall, is, the wash is not properly prepared, and 
the brush is a small, cheap thing, utterly unfit for the 
business. A brush with long, thick hair, will hold the 
fluid best, when applying it overhead. If a person has 
the wash of the right consistence, and a good brush, he 
can whitewash a large parlor without allowing a drop to 
fall. When it appears streaked after drying, it is too 
thick, and needs diluting with cold water. Apply the 
wash back and forth in one direction, and then go cross- 
wise, using a paint-brush at the corners, and a thin piece 
of a board to keep the brush from the wood-work, or the 
border of the paper. If the walls have been white- 
washed, let them be swept thoroughly; and if colored 



HOW TO WHITEWASH NEATLY. 211 

with smoke, wash them clean with soaj)-suds. In order 
to make whitewash that will not rub off, procure fresh- 
burnt lime, not that partly air-slacked. The large lumps 
are best. The fine portions and small lumps will not 
make a wash that will stick well. For this reason, lime 
that has been burned several months is not so good as 
that just from the kiln. Put a pound or two into a vessel, 
and pour on boiling water slowly, until it is all slacked, 
and is about as thick as cream. Then add cold rain- 
water until it will flow well from the brush. Stir often 
when using it. A few drops of bluing added will give 
it a more lively color. One or two table-spoonfuls of 
clean salt, and one-fourth pound of clean sugar to a 
gallon of the wash, will make it more adhesive. Color- 
ing matter may be mingled with the wash, to give it 
any desired tint. To make a light peach-blow color, 
mingle a small quantity of Venetian-red. For a sky- 
blue, add any kind of dry blue paint, stirring it well 
while mixing. To make a wash of a light straw-color, 
mingle a few ounces of yellow ochre, or chrome yellow. 
The coloring matter should be quite fine to prevent its 
settling to the bottom of the vessel. 

Calcimining Walls. — Those who calcimine walls 
endeavor to keep others ignorant of the materials em- 
ployed, and the manner of using them. Yet any per- 
sons who know how to whitewash can prepare and put 
on calcimine material, just as- satisfactorily as they can 
whitewash. Calcimine is only a kind of whitewash, 
somewhat different from lime wash. It is made of white 
ghie and Paris white, both of which may be procured 
at the drug or hardware stores. The proportions are 
about as follows, viz. : one-fourth pound of glue to six 



212 todd's countky homes. 

pounds of Paris white. Some persons prefer seven or 
eight pounds of the white to one-fourth pound of glue. 
In preparing the calcimine, soak the glue over night 
in tepid water. The next day, put it in a tin pail with 
a quart or more of water, set the tin pail in a kettle of 
water over the fire, and bofl and stir the contents till 
the glue is reduced to a thin sizing. Put the Paris 
white in a pail, pour on hot water, stir it until it is like 
milk. Now add the dissolved glue, stir thoroughly, 
and apply it to the wall with a calcimining brush, or 
with any other brush, while the material is warm. 
Some gravel stones, or nails, should be placed in the 
bottom of the kettle for the glue-pail to rest on ; other- 
wise the glue may be scorched. This will make a 
beautiful white, almost equal to new white paint. If 
it is desired, coloring matter may be added, to suit 
the fancy. Calcimining walls is really no better, nor 
whiter than common whitewash, which will not cost 
one-quarter so much. But jobbers will talk our good 
wives into the notion of having walls calcimined, because 
they thus secure a five or ten dollar job, when fifty 
cents would cancel the entire expense for whitewash- 
ing, and the walls would look and be equally neat and 
durable. 

Hanging Wall Paper. — Hanging wall-paper is 
light and easy work, which may be done by females 
as well as males. The materials necessary for pa- 
pering are, a papering-board, ten or twelve feet long 
and about two feet wide, planed smooth ; a large 
paste-brush, a pan of paste, a pair of long shears, 
a light, straight-edged pole, and a soft brush-broom. 
Now, take a roll of paper, and measure around 



HANGING WALL PAPER. 213 

the room, to ascertain how many w£ole strips are 
required for the walls. Cut the desired number of 
strips of the right length, so that the edges will 
match, and lay them all on the board, with the wrong 
side up. If the wall has been whitewashed, sweep 
it thoroughly, and wash it with vinegar and water. 
As paste expands paper, and renders it tender, the 
paste must not be put on until the wall is ready 
to receive it. When the paper is so tender that 
it will hardly hold itself together, double the upper 
end of a strip over a smooth stick. Begin in one 
corner of the room, and let the strip hang perpen- 
dicularly; and as soon as it is right, stick the top 
fast to the wall. Instead of using a bunch of cloth 
to rub it on with, sweep it on with a soft brush-broom, 
by commencing at the top, and sweeping downwards 
and outwards from the middle of the strip. A bunch 
of cloth will sometimes blot the colors, but a soft broom 
will not. As soon- as a strip is pasted on the wall, run 
the back of the shears along the upper edge of the 
base, or mop-board, then pull the lower end of the 
paper away from the wall, and cut it oflf, and afterwards 
sweep it on. When a strip does not hang exactly 
plumb, take hold of the bottom and pull it from the 
wall, until it hangs only by an inch or so at the top. 
Then adjust it, and sweep it on again. When turning 
a corner of a room, it will be more convenient to cut a 
strip of paper in two, lengthways, so that the joint will 
come exactly in the corner, than to attempt to put on 
a whole strip by bending it in the corner. New paper 
can be pasted over the old, if that be on firmly. It is 
better to apply the paste to the paper than to the wall. 



214 todd's countkt homes. 

as dry paper is elastic, and will not adhere until it 
has become wet. Let the paste be made of good 
wheat or rye flour, and keep it of the right consistence. 
Paste should be so thick that it may be spread like 
soft butter, rather than so thin that it will wet the 
paper. 



CHAPTER Y. 

WELLS AND CISTEKNS. 

Value of good Wells — Digging Wells— Cement Water Pipe— Cisterns- 
Drain Tiles for Water Pipe — Cement Water Pipe — Lead Pipe — Tin- 
Lined Pipe — Cisterns — Wooden and Cement — Wind-mills for Raising 
Water. 

THE VALUE OF A GOOD WELL. 

The great importance of a good well at every barn, 
where water cannot be obtained from some other source, 
less expensive than digging wells, need not be argued. 
In the summer, all the stock, and the teams in particu- 
lar, often suffer for want of good water ; while during 
the foddering season, when storms prevail, cattle in 
some instances will not go to drink for a whole day, or 
even longer, because the water is at a distance from 
the barn. Then when thirst compels them to leave 
the yard, and break their own path through snow-drifts 
to obtain water, they will drink too much. On their 
way to and from the water, they drop much manure, 
which is wasted. The annual waste of manure, and of 
flesh and fat, caused by driving animals to the brook for 
water, and by the lack of abundance of it, will, on many 
farms, equal the expense of making a good well once a 
year. Milch cows cannot yield a full flow of milk, in 
summer or winter, without an abundance of clean water. 
Pure, clean water from a well-kept cistern, is much more 



216 todd's countky homes. 

healthful than water from many of the stock ponds, 
which during the summer months, when water is most 
needed, are but little more than mud-holes. See that 
the liquid of the stables or yard does not find its way 
into the cistern. Most persons who have never experi- 
enced the advantage of a barn-cistern or well, would 
avail themselves of a good one, if they knew how little 
cost and trouble are required to make a- large spacious 
reservoir, that will always contain a bountiful supply 
of water. 

The rule that I always observed, when I was accus- 
tomed to take care of domestic animals, is, never to 
offer water to an animal that is so turbid, or in such an 
unclean vessel, that I would not quench my own thirst 
from the same source of supply. The sense of taste is 
exceedingly acute in all kinds of domestic animals, 
and they do not like to drink impure water. Untold 
numbers of animals are poisoned to death, every season, 
by being required to drink either cistern, or well-water 
which has been impregnated with the poisonous drainage 
of the stable. I have often seen water drawn from a well 
in a yard, or beneath a stable, which looked like wine. 
When animals are compelled to drink such liquid it will 
operate like poison, as the noxious material in the water 
is poison. Experienced physicians assure us, that many 
of our diseases, especially those of a low type, are due 
in a great measure, to impurities of drinking-water. 
Dysentery, typhoid fever, and summer diseases of a se- 
vere and fatal kind, have frequently been traced to 
springs and wells which were so situated, that the 
water must necessarily receive much surface filth. In 
thickly settled portions of the town, the old shallow 



THE VALUE OF A GOOD WELL. 217 

wells have often become the direct recipients of the 
surface drainage of filthy grounds, without attracting 
the slightest attention from those who use the water. 
Whether distant springs or deep wells are found to be 
necessary, the expense of obtaining pure water should 
not for a moment interfere with the accomplishment of 
the desired object. Such works not only repay indi- 
rectly by promoting the public health, but directly by 
improving the neighborhood, and rendering the lands' 
more valuable. 

Whenever out-buildings are situated on a hill-side, 
and have a basement stable, one can generally locate 
the cistern in the ground, on the upper side of the 
building, so as to draw the water in the basement by 
natural flow, the convenience and economy of which 
will be highly appreciated. In supplying the dwelling 
with water from the roof, a reservoir is usually placed 
in the lower portion of the building so that it will re- 
ceive the water from the roof of the higher portion, 
and yet be so elevated that water will flow from it to 
the chambers of the main building, bath-room, water- 
closet, kitchen and laundry, and will also cause the hot 
water to flow where it may be required. The overflow 
of the elevated reservoir, and usually the water that 
falls on the back roof of the building will be conducted 
to a cistern in the ground. In some instances, the over- 
flow water from a reservoir in the dwelling, may be 
made to supply a number of fountains and cascades in 
the ornamental grounds, by taking advantage of the faU 
of the ground, and by using the same water successively. 
Hundreds of little rills, the water of which was turned 
to little account hitherto, are now dammed at frequent 



218 



TODDS COUNTEY HOMES. 



intervals, forming ice-jDonds, and providing power for 
supplying dwellings on the summits of the hills with 
flowing water, the luxury of which the denizen of the 
country had never before dreamed of 

SUGGESTIONS ABOUT DIGGING WELLS. 

It is sometimes necessary to sink wells in the spring 
of the year, when the ground is so full of water that it 
is impracticable to dig sufficiently deep to secure the 
advantage of never-failing water in dry weather. By 
employing a curb of sufficient size to enable a digger 
to use a shovel and pick while at work on the inside, 
the well can be sunk at pleasure, to any desired depth, 
as fast as the water fails, without incurring the labor 
and expense of building a wall of stones, or of bricks, 
to prevent the earth from caving in, w^hen the digger 
stops his work, and removing the wall when the well is 
to be sunk deeper. 

The best season of the year to reach veins of never- 
failing water is, usually, in September or October. If 
water fails, and there is a curb in the well, a digger can 
sink the well deeper at any time, until the water will 
allow him to go no deeper. Consequently, there is no 
danger to be apprehended from the caving in of the 
soft earth. 

The curb can be made at 
a small expense by any one 
who can use a saw, planes 
and a drawing-knife, with 
ordinary skill. In the first 
place make two wooden 
rings, out of plank, about 




CUT OF A WELL CURB. 



one and one-half inches thick, and double the segments. 



SUGGESTIONS ABOUT DIGGING WELLS. 219 

The rings should be like the rim of a wagon-wheel, 
without spokes. When finished, they should be not 
less than four feet in diameter across the inside. Each 
rim should be four inches wide by three inches in thick- 
ness, having the segments nailed or bolted together. 
Now, nail staves to the outside of the rims, so as to 
make a rude drum. The staves may be three or four 
feet long, and each stave one and one-quarter inches 
thick by four inches wide. Sink a hole four or more 
feet deep and put the curb into it. It will be under- 
stood that one wooden ring is near the bottom, and the 
other at the top of the curb, on the inside of the staves. 
The preceding illustration represents a curb ready to 
be placed in the well. Now lay a wall of bricks four 
inches thick on the inside of the curb, letting the bricks 
rest on the lower wooden rim. As fast as the well is 
sunk, the curb, with the wall of brick on the inside, 
settles ; and workmen continue to lay on more bricks 
at the surface of the ground, as fast as the curb settles. 
The bricks are not laid in mortar, except the last few 
courses near the surface of the ground, when the dig- 
ging is finished. 

Let it be perfectly understood, that such a curb is 
designed particularly to facilitate digging wells where 
the earth is of such a character as to cave. Where 
the ground is so firm that there is no danger of caving, 
the better way is to continue to sink the well as deep 
as is desirable, without a curb. Then stone it, or brick 
it, or plaster the sides, from the bottom. As the dig- 
ging progresses, the earth is excavated beneath the 
curb, so that the wall, curb and all continues to settle 
down, inch by inch. In case the earth is so compact 



220 todd's countey homes. 

that a pick must be employed inside of the curb, it 
should be made five feet in diameter. 

How TO Excavate. — How to get the earth 4)ut of 
a well is a question involving some skillful engineering, 
in order to perform the work in the most economical 
manner. The first twelve or fourteen feet of earth 
may best be thrown out with shovels, by making a 
platform five or six feet below the surface, from which 
a man shovels the earth to the surface, as fast as it is 
thrown up to him. When a well is to be sunk only 
twenty feet, a common windlass, which one man can 
work, will constitute an economical apparatus. But, 
when it is necessary to dig thirty to sixty feet, a horse 
should be employed to draw up the earth. One man 
with a horse can haul up the dirt with great ease, by 
erecting three poles, as represented by the illustration 
herewith given, which hardly requires a written de- 
scription. The snatch-pulley is secured to a post set 
firmly in the ground, as shown, having a large two-inch 
pin through the bottom of it horizontally, so that a 
horse can not pull it up. Then the horse will need no 
one to lead him. This stake or post must not be placed 
beyond the foot of one of the poles, as the tendency 
would then be to draw the tripod over. The rope to 
which the horse is hitched, passes under the snatch- 
pulley and over a pulley near the top of the poles, 
thence around another at the bail of the bucket. The 
end of the rope should be tied near the upper end 
of the poles. The upper pulley should be susj)ended 
at such a hight, that the dirt-bucket may rise just 
enough to be emptied into a wheelbarrow, when the 
blocks come together. Thus the horse may continue 



SUGGESTIONS ABOUT DIGGING WELLS. 



221 



to pull with all his might, without beiug able to get 
away, or to hinder the workman who manages the 
bucket. By having a wheelbarrow near, the earth 
may be turned quickly into it, before the horse can 
back up. When a bucket is drawn uj) in this manner, 
it rises only half as fast as the horse travels; and he 
can with ease, elevate three or four hundred pounds at 
a time. 




WELL-DIGGING APPARATUS. 



A "Well-digger's Bucket. — The most economical 
and satisfactory way to make a digger's bucket is, to 
saw off about one- third the length of a strong barrel; 
nail a board across the bottom on the outside, so that 
stones dropping in, will not break the head through; 
put on a strong iron hoop, six inches above the middle 
of the bucket; and attach an iron bail at this point, 
with half-inch bolts, passing through the bail, hoop and 



222 todd's country homes. 

staves, or with hooks and eyes. A small lad will be 
able to empty a large bucket hung in this manner. 

A still cheaper wny is to take a strong salt barrel, 
hoop it well, put a three-quarter rope around it, under 
the bottom, lashed to the sides, in the same place where 
the iron bail is fastened. When only one well is to be 
•sunk, such a dirt-bucket will subserve as good a pur- 
pose as one that will cost several dollars. A strong 
wash-tub, with a rope passing around it, may be em- 
ployed, when nothing more convenient is at hand. It 
should be remembered that a barrel or tub should be 
so hung, with the ears near the middle of the staves, 
that when full of earth, it may be turned upside dowii, 
with but little effort. Veins of water may be found 
running through the earth, just as the blood veins ap- 
pear in the bodies of animals. In some places, perma- 
nent water may be found near the surface ; while only 
a few feet distant, a w^ell may be sunk fifty feet, with- 
out striking a vein. 

The Size of Wells. — If only a small quantity of 
Avater is required, a well may be made as small as a 
workman can dig it. On the contrary, if a large num- 
ber of animals are to be supplied with water from a 
certain well, it should be made from six to ten feet in 
diameter, for the purpose of forming a large reservoir, 
in which the water can accumulate. When a well is 
very small, a large herd of cattle would exhaust the 
water before they all could be supplied ; whereas, there 
would be an abundant supply were there sufficient 
space for it to accumulate. 

Many people overlook entirely, the necessity of hav- 
ing a spacious reservoir. When the main water vein 



HOW TO STONE A WELL. 223 

that supplies the well is small, if the well be large, the 
supply of water may be sufficient for all purposes. 
But, if the well were small, it would be necessary to 
sink another well, or increase the size of the reservoir. 
How TO STONE A Well. — When stoning a well, it is 
not necessary to employ a professional well-digger, as 
there are only two important considerations to be kept 
in mind, one of which is, to place the large end of every 
stone outward, instead of inward ; and to lay the stones 
level, skotch them well, and fill all the interstices with 
small stones. There is a right way and a wrong way 
to stone a well. The object is to build a strong wall, 
that will not fall inward, instead of a wall having a 
smooth face, which is of little account. In laying up 
a common wall, the large ends and face sides of stones 
are laid in front. But, when stoning a well, the large 
ends are placed in the opposite direction, so that every 
course of stone on the face or inside, will form an arch. 
The back side is leveled up with small stone, and much 
care should be exercised to place many small ones 
against the earth, instead of packing in large ones, to 
keep the dirt from washing down to the bottom of the 
well. If gravel can be obtained conveniently, it is a 
good practice to fill all the interstices between the 
stones with it. The thickness of a wall should be not 
less than fifteen to twenty inches even when a well is 
not more than ten feet deep, as a narrow wall made of 
bowlders of irregular form, is liable to fall or cave in- 
wards. When suitable stones cannot be obtained, bricks 
may be employed instead of stones. If the ground be 
firm, one course four inches wide, will be sufficient for 
a deep well. Yet^, stones will be cheaper, even if they 



224 todd's country homes. 

must be carted two or three miles. If stones and bricks 
are scarce, coat the well with water-lime. 

How TO DIG Wells in Slate. — When the work- 
men reach the solid rock, work a reservoir in the rock 
by blasting or chiseling. The smaller the diameter, 
the less labor will be required to sink a well in the 
water-tight rock. The water- veins that will supply 
the well with water, may be found between the solid 
rock and shale. In such a case, the reservoir may be 
made four, or ten feet in the solid stratum. To obviate 
the necessity of nearly filling this reservoir with stones, 
as in the usual mode, a close scaffold or platform is laid 
across the well, resting on the upper surface of the 
rock, and covering entirely the space across the well. 
This is shown by the dotted lines. On this the work- 
man stands, and commences ston- 
ing the well, by laying the foun- 
dation on the rim of rock, which 
is for this purpose laid bare of the 
earth about one foot around. As 
he rises in building the wall, he 
gradually contracts its diameter, 
until it is contracted to the usual 
size, or to about two and one-quarter 
feet in diameter. Every layer of 
stones forming a circular arch, it is 
perfectly impossible for the wall to 
fall, if the stones are properly laid. 

The illustration herewith given, represents the form 
of the well, the strata of earth and rock that must be 
perforated, and the reservoir filled with water. 

Practical Advantages of a Syphon. — Springs of 




A WELL IN THE ROCK. 



MEANS OF CONDUCTING WATEK. 225 

never-failing water are frequently found on the hill- 
slope, or the mountain-side, from ten to one hundred 
feet higher than the dwelling-house, or barn. It is 
sometimes desirable to bring the water from such a 
mountain spring to the homestead. This can be done 
in two or more wa^^s. One is to sink a hole only three 
or four feet deep at the spring, and conduct the water 
in a lead pipe down the slope. If it were necessary to 
sink a well twenty feet, and if the bottom of the well 
were only one foot higher than the end of the tube 
where the Avater is to discharge, a lead tube may ex- 
tend from near the bottom of the well to the top, and 
along the surface of the earth, say two feet under 
ground, to the dwelling-house, or barn. A pipe half 
an inch in diameter would furnish a bountiful supply 
of water. The end of the tube where the water issues 
out should be constructed so that the water may not 
be drawn out faster than it comes into the well. 
The usual way to start the water in such a syphon, 
is to attach a suction pump of some kind to the lower 
end of the lead pipe, and draw out all the air. If the 
tube is air-tight, water will continue to jflow until the 
sujDply in the well is exhausted. 

Making Cement Water-pipe. — Perhaps the most 
satisfactory way of making or constructing this kind 
of water-pipe, irs to cut a ditch, not less than two 
feet deep ; and if the ground in the bottom of the ex- 
cavation can be spaded, cut a channel in the bottom 
of the ditch four inches deep and not more than four 
inches wide. Dress off the sides and bottom smoothly. 
But if the ground is stony, so that such a channel can 
not be made without breaking up the earth on the 

15 



226 todd's country homes. 

sides, lay down a four-inch scantling, in the middle of 
the ditch, pack lieav}^ earth with a rammer, on both 
sides of it, flush with the upper side of the scantling. 
Then remove the scantling, and fill the channel half 
full of cement, for about four feet in length. If the 
corners on the lower side of the scantling be dressed 
off so as to giye an octagonal form, the mould will re- 
quire less mortar, and at the same time, will be just as 
strong as if the corners were left on. 

The Core-Rod. — This is usually made of hard wood, 
turned true and smooth. But the best thing is a bar of 
round iron, four feet in diameter, straight and smooth, 
with one end drawn out a little, and a hole made 
through the end, for receiving a strong, small cord, 
which is attached to a short piece of wooden rod, three 
or four feet within the orifice. The rear piece of rod 
may be a trifle smaller than the iron rod. The object 
of it is, to remove any fragment of mortar that might 
fall down in the orifice, after the iron rod has been 
drawn forward. 

After the channel in the bottom of the drain has 
been half filled with cement through a space nearly as 
long as the rod, lay the core-rod on the cement, and 
bury it half its thickness in this bed of plastic ma- 
terial, by standing on it. The operator will perceive, 
at this point, the superiority of an iron rod, over one 
of wood, which will spring more than he desires. Now, 
then, fill the remainder of the channel with cement 
mortar, press it down thoroughly around the rod, and 
smooth off the surface. When the cement is laid in 
the channel, it should be as stiff as it can be worked 
conveniently with the trowel. If the cement be too 



WOODEN CISTEKNS. 227 

soft, a longer time will be required to set, and the mor- 
tar will be more liable to fall down behind the core-rod 
and thus obstruct the water-course. The workman 
will understand that one end of the iron rod must ex- 
tend beyond the cement, sufficiently far to be grasped 
with one hand. Now, before drawing the rod forward, 
turn it a little, back and forth to loosen it ; then draw 
it carefully along, until the rear end extends in the 
orifice only two or three inches. Keep a block be- 
neath the forwa,rd end, to prevent the rod's dropping 
to the ground and thus rupturing the tube. While 
the rod remains in its place, put more cement into the 
channel, and press it close around the rod beneath ; 
then fill the channel, and draw the rod forward to 
form another section. 

How TO BUILD Wooden Cisteens. — A man who 
can saw off* a board to a mark, and joint two boards, 
can make a good cistern. In order to make a wood 
cistern, make a bottom of sound, seasoned boards, like 
the bottom of a pail. Joint the pieces neatly, and 
fasten them together with cleats on the under side. 
Get the staves sawed out true with a circular saw, with 
the edges bevelling at the correct angle. Every stave 
should be about one-fourth of an inch narrower at the 
upper end, than at the lower end. This form of staves 
will give sufficient taper to the cistern for driving the 
hoops downwards. Two inches from the lower end, 
cut a croze, half an inch deep, in each stave, and nail 
each stave to the circular bottom. Cut the croze to fit 
water-tight to the edge of the bottom, and the cistern 
will not leak. Unite the tops of the staves with small 
nails, to steady them, until a hoop is put on. Procure 



228 



todd's country homes. 



some hoop-iron, enough for three hoops, one in the 
middle and one at either end. Get a few rivets at the 
hardware store ; rivet the ends of the hoops ; drive them 
down firmly ; give the outside of the cistern a heavy 
coat of coal-tar, or pitch ; set the top two feet below 
the surface of the ground ; puddle the circumference 
with clay in a plastic state, thin or soft enough to fill 
the space of four inches wide between the staves and 
bank of earth. Then cover the top with sound planks, 
neatly jointed ; smear the surface with coal-tar or pitch ; 
cover with hydraulic cement ; and you will have a cis- 
tern that will last for ages. 

When jointing the staves, be particular to leave the 
outside of the joints open a trifle — say about one-twen- 
tieth of an inch. A man who is half a mechanic can 
make such a cistern in a few hours ; and the whole ex- 
pense will be but a few dollars. 

Brick or Stone Cisterns. — The most satisfactory 

w^ay to make a large cis- 
tern of bricks, is to make 
a circular excavation, say 
^twelve feet deep, and 
seven or eight feet in di- 
ameter. Carry up the 
^3^ wall perpendicularly, the 
width of one brick — or 
four inches — thick. Lay 
the bricks wdth care in 
BRICK CISTERN. watcr-Ume ccmcnt. When 

within five feet of the surface of the groimd, commence 
drawing the wall in, as represented by the illustration 
of the section of a brick cistern. The wall may be 




DIFFERENT KINDS OF CISTERNS. 229 

drawn in to such an extent that a stone, or plank, a 
yard square will cover the top. Cement the bottom 
and sides thoroughly with excellent cement mortar, 
and you will have a cistern that will never fail. 

Cisterns should always be provided with a discharge 
pipe, as represented by the illustration, with the upper 
end laid in the wall, and the lower end extending di- 
agonally to the bottom of the cistern. It would be 
better to rest the lower end of the tube in the sink shown 
at the bottom of the cistern, than where the engraver 
has placed it. The object of this tube, it will be perceived, 
is to let the surplus water flow out of the bottom of the 
cistern, rather than to let the fresh rain water pass off, as 
is usually the case. By the arrangement, as shown by 
the discharge tube, the old water remaining in the bot- 
tom of the reservoir will be forced out of the cistern as 
it is filled with new water. This will tend also to keep 
the water more pure. 

Water-Lime Cisterns. — Wherever the earth has a 
fair degree of solidity, excavate a round hole, and put 
the cement on the smooth earth. In order to get the 
cement of the desired thickness, two or three coats 
must be applied. When one heavy coat is laid on, the 
mortar is liable to drop off. The water-lime or cement, 
should be tested, on a small scale, before the cistern is 
plastered, for the purpose of determining whether the 
material is good. Water-lime cisterns, when made of 
excellent materials, will be as durable as a stone jug, 
and the lime will not affect the water, after the cement 
has become hard. 

In order to make the surface smooth, after the exca- 
vation is made, beat it, with a heavy mallet, until the 



230 todd's countky homes. 

rough points are all battered down even. This process 
will save several bushels of cement. 

Covering Cisterists. — There should always be not 
less than two feet in depth of earth, over the top of 
every cistern. The covering is usually made of stiff 
and durable plank, supported, if necessary, by strong 
scantling, and over this is placed about one foot of 
earth, to exclude completely the frost. A hole with a 
curb, about eighteen inches by two feet, must be left 
in this covering, for the admission of the water-pipe or 
pump, and to allow a man to enter for cleaning out the 
cistern when necessary. In cold or freezing weather, 
it is indispensably requisite to have this hole well 
stopped to exclude frost, which would otherwise enter 
the wet cement or walls, and produce cracking and 
leakage — a frequent cause of the failure of water-lime 
cisterns. 

Strong posts of durable wood, or pillars of brick, 
may be placed near the middle of large • cisterns, for 
supporting the heavy weight of earth. The lower ends 
of such pillars should rest on broad flat stones, laid in 
cement. 

The Capacity of Cisterns. — Beginners usually in- 
quire, "How small may we build a cistern ?" and not "How 
large can it be made?" The great fault with most cis- 
terns is, they are too small. They seldom contain half 
the water that falls on the roof of the dwelling. As 
the usual depth and capacity of cisterns are not half 
what they should be, their general insufficiency as a 
source of supply, is a matter of serious complaint. 
The capacity of a cistern should be sufficient for the 
use of the family for ninety days without rain, and the 



DRAIN-TILES FOR WATER-PIPE. 231 

depth of covering over it should be sufficient to effectu- 
ally protect it from solar heat. 

The annual average fall of ^yater in this latitude is 
about thirty-six inches in depth, or twenty-one gallons 
for each superficial foot of surface of a roof measured 
horizontally. By the aid of this data, the inexperi- 
enced builder may readily calculate about how much 
water his roofs will collect, and also, how much he will 
be likely to want for any purpose. The rain that falls 
on the roof of a small dwelling, if carefully preserved 
in properly constructed, spacious cisterns, will be found 
ample to meet the necessary wants of the family. 

By referring to the fundamental rules in almost any 
arithmetic, a beginner can determine in a few minutes, 
how many hogsheads of water a cistern of a given size 
will contain. 

Drain-tiles for Water-pipe. — When water is to 
flow downward, from the source to the place of dis- 
charge, drain-tiles with the ends simply placed together, 
as they are laid in a ditch, will subserve a satisfactory 
purpose. In case, however, it is necessary to form a 
water-tight tube, the joints of the tiles must be covered 
with a coat of good cement mortar not less than half 
an inch thick, entirely around the tiles. For such a 
purpose, the tiles should be made two feet or more, 
long, so as to reduce the number of joints. Before a 
tile is laid, a small quantity of cement mortar should 
be spread for the ends to rest on. 

Raising Water with a Wind-mill. — In sections 
of country where there are no springs, running brooks, 
or rivers, the supply of water must often be obtained 
from deep wells. In such cases, a small wind-mill will 



232 todd's country homes. 

subserve an excellent purpose. At Mineola, Long 
Island, where every barrel of water must come from a 
well over sixty feet deep, a wind-mill is employed to 
work a force-pump, which elevates the water into a 
very large reservoir on the surface of the earth, from 
which water troughs, in distant pasture fields, receive 
a constant supply through small lead pipes. The reser- 
voir is sufficiently capacious to contain more than a 
thousand hogsheads of water. It is made of a circular 
form, with the side walls of bricks or stones, laid water- 
tig-ht in cement mortar. The bottom is also covered 
with a thick coat of cement. Then a strong plank 
covering is supported by posts in the reservoir, and the 
whole is covered with earth to exclude the frost. The 
surface is covered with a turf, so that the reservoir 
appears like a huge mound. These facts, I trust, will 
be sufficient to enable any one to carry out the neces- 
sary details in constructing such water-works. In case 
it were desirable to obtain a supply of water from a 
river thirty feet lower than the place of delivery, a 
wind-mill could be employed to elevate the water about 
thirty feet by suction. Or, in case the w^ind-mill could 
be stationed in the valley, the water could be forced 
up to almost any desired point of elevation. Wind- 
mills have been brought to such perfection, that one 
can be erected above a large barn of sufficient capacity 
to drive thrashing-machine, fodder-cutters, pump the 
water for stock, drive the churn in summer, turn the 
grind-stone, drive a circular saw for cutting fire-wood, 
and be employed for any other purpose where a power 
equal to two or ten horses is desirable. When one is 
at a distance from a grist-mill, if a few hundred bushels 



HOW TO MAKE WOODEN WATER-PIPE. 233 

of grain are to be ground in a year, it would be eco- 
nomical management to construct a wind-mill to pump 
water and drive a portable farm mill. (See Farm Mills 
in another chapter.) 

How TO MAKE Wooden Water-pipe. — A great many 
people would be glad to convey water in some kind 
of pipe, were it not for the great expense. In many 
parts of the country, wooden tubing, or water pipe is 
an article of commerce, and is usually sold for about 
twice the value of the timber, when reduced to board 
measure. For conveying w^ater from springs or wells, 
for the use of stock, culinary purposes, irrigation, or 
for any and every purpose when a small supply is re- 
quired, wooden pipe or tubing is cheaper than either 
lead, tin or iron. One of the advantages of wood is, it 
does not corrode by use ; and the water is not impreg- 
nated with a deadly poison, as in the case of some 
kinds of metallic pipe. If water continues passing 
through wooden tubing it will last a generation. As 
almost any kind of timber will continue sound, so long 
as it is kept saturated with water, many farmers may 
make a large quantity of wooden, two-inch tubing at a 
small expense, by having one end of a straight, iron 
rod welded to the end of the shank of a two-inch aug-er, 
and a crank made on the other end. The auger should 
have a good, sharp screw, and rather coarse, so that it 
will bore lengthways of the grain of the wood, with- 
out being pressed in. A shank six feet long, will an- 
swer for boring lengths of pipe twelve feet in length, 
by changing ends, after boring half way through, which 
may be done if the timber is straight-grained. If the 
timber is somewhat knotty, it will be better to have the 



234 todd's countey homes. 

shank and auger about ten feet in length, so as to reach 
from end to end of ten-feet cuts, without changing ends 
of the sticks. 

For holding the cuts, while they are being bored, a 
rude bench may be made about twice as long as the 
auger, if the cuts are to be bored without changing 
ends. The end of the shank of the auger near the 
crank, should be supported by a slide, that will move 
along as the auger enters the wood. The only im- 
portant considerations in boring straight from end to 
end is, the center of each end of the stick, and the 
center of the end of the auger-shank .must be in a 
direct line. Then the auger must be withdrawn fre- 
quently, to prevent the chips from clogging so firmly 
that the auger cannot be turned out without breaking 
the pod. Where wooden pipe is bored by machinery, 
the pod of the auger is eight to ten feet in length ; and 
is turned off so true, that it revolves in an iron socket, 
or case, through which- all the chips are conveyed, as 
fast as the auger enters the wood. It is impracticable 
for such an auger to clog. Of course, the ends of the 
cuts should be sawed off squarely. The auger should 
enter the small end of each stick first, when the ends 
are not to be changed in boring. 

The most economical and satisfactory way to unite 
the ends of pieces of wooden pipe, is to procure cast- 
iron couplings, about four inches long, made very thin, 
like a barrel without heads, having a little bilge at the 
middle, like Fig. 5, at A, in the following illustration. 
These couplings should be just large enough to fill a 
two-inch hole, water-tight, when driven in half their 
length. A small ridge, bead or flange is made around 



LEAD WATEK-PIPE. 235 

the middle of each coupling, like a large hoop around 
the bilge of a barrel, to facilitate getting each end just 
so far into the pieces to be connected. 

Lead Water-pipe. — When persons in the rural dis- 
tricts contemplate the use of lead pipe for conducting 
water from springs located above the place of delivery, 
pipe weighing half the usual number of pounds per 
lineal rod, will subserve a satisfactory purpose. I once 
purchased a quantity of lead pipe, under the direction 
of one who professed to know more than I, and the re- 
sult was, that a length of pipe which cost me one hun- 
dred and twelve dollars, might have been procured for 
forty-five dollars, if I had been guided by my own judg- 
ment. When lead pipe is employed for plumbing a 
dwelling-house, it frequently occurs that pipe one- 
third heavier than is really necessary, is employed. 
The true and economical way to get lead pipe in New 
York is, not to deal with jobbers, who will ask a much 
larger price than the same quality of pipe could be 
obtained for, at the factory ; but to communicate with 
the manufacturers, telling them what is required. The 
same may be done in other large cities. If a farmer 
wants a piece of light pipe, five hundred feet long, he 
can get it in one entire piece at the factory, rolled in a 
neat coil. Whereas, were he to purchase of some re- 
tailer, the same kind of pipe would be forwarded in 
several pieces. 

Manner of Joining Tin-lined Pipe. — The accom- 
panying illustrations will convey a fair idea of the dif- 
ferent kinds of connections employed to join pieces of 
tin-lined pipe, by soldering. The letters of reference 
will apply to the game part of the connection in each 



236 



todd's countky homes. 



illustration. This joint is an improvement on the wiped 
joint, which requires much practical skill, besides, re- 
quiring nearly a pound of solder, which will usually 
cost the consumer fifty cents, besides fifty cents more 




Fiy ^ 



for the manipulation in making a single joint. Fig. 1, 
represents a T connection, for uniting a branch to the 
supply pipe. Fig. 2, represents a sectional view of 
same, showing the jjerfect union this method secures. 
Fig. 3, is a single joint with pipe attached. Fig. 4, is 
a sectional view of same. Fig. 5, represents a single 
joint, as furnished to the trade ready for use. These 



JOINING TIN-LINED PIPE. 237 

connections are made of brass and heavily tinned, both 
inside and out; a, a, are the conical ends to which the 
pipe is fitted. A, the outer flange to which the heat 
is applied, when the joint is effected. Any mechanic, 
who cannot make a wii:>ed joint, will be able to unite 
a lead pipe with such a connection, with very little 
difficulty. 

These joints answer admirably for lead pipe; but 
they are particularly adapted to lead encased block-tin 
pipe, as there is no danger of melting the tin lining 
by making the joint. For pure block-tin pipe it will 
be found almost essential, owing to the danger of melt- 
ing the pipe by any other process. Each size joint is 
suitable for the different thicknesses of pipe. The 
manner of uniting two ends of pipe is as follows : 

First clean the ends of the pipe, by scraping or other- 
wise, as solder will not unite to a dirty substance. Saw 
the ends of the pipe square; then, drive in the ex- 
pander, which is a round and smooth piece of steel of 
the same taper as the connection, to the point required, 
it being distinctly marked for all sizes of pipe. When 
the pipe is fitted to the joint, apply a hot tongs to the 
flange A, until the tin on the surface softens, which can 
be known by passing the finger, quickly over the sur- 
face. This is a sure indication that the union inside is 
complete. The tongs are then removed; and the ends 
of the pipe quickly pressed to the flange, for a moment, 
for the melted tin to set. These tongs are made with 
copper jaws to retain heat. But ordinary smith's tongs 
will answer. So also will a blow-pipe, or anything that 
will make sufficient heat to melt the tin. By applying 
heat to the outer flange, it causes the tin on the outer 



238 todd's country homes. 

surface of the joint to flow; this uniting with the inner 
surface of the pipe, makes a union that no force can 
separate, or water penetrate. This style of joint is 
known to the trade as " a sweated union,'' instead of a 
"wiped joint." 

Joining Lead Pipe Without Soldering. — Heavy 
lead pipe may sometimes be united water-tight, by pro- 
curing an iron coupling, or connection, at an iron-pipe 
manufactory, which has a left-handed thread cut in one 
end, and a right-handed thread in the other end. As 
such couplings are made of numerous sizes, they can 
be obtained to fit lead pipe of almost any given size. 
Let the two ends of a lead pipe be cut oflf square, and 
if the pipe is not round it must be made so. Then 
screw one end of the iron coupling on one end of the 
pipe, say half an inch. Remove it, and screw the other 
end on the other piece of pipe. Unscrew the coupling, 
fill the thread on both ends of both coupling and pipe 
with red or white lead mingled with boiled oil, so as to 
be of the consistence of thick paint. Now screw the 
coupling on both ends of the pipe at once. If the 
coupling is just large enough to screw on the pipe, 
the joint will be water-tight, even under pressure. The 
writer joined a cold-water supply-pipe in the cellar with 
an inch iron coupling, in Brooklyn, where the water is 
under a heavy pressure, and the joint does not leak. 



CHAPTER YI. 



BARNS AND OUT-BUILDINGS. 

Erecting Out-buildings — Framing Large Barns — Scarfing Large Timlaer 
— Selecting Durable and Perishable Timber — Nails — ^How to use 
tbem — Scribe Rule and Square Rule — A Cheap Barn, 

MANNER OF FRAMING A LARGE BARN. 

The method herewith given I have never seen laid 

down in any treatise on 
architecture. As pur- 
line beams are many 
times much in the way, 
they may be dispensed 
with entirely. The girts 
which connect the tops 
of the middle posts to 
the purline posts, should 
be of strong timber ; 
the tenons should ex- 
tend through each post ; 
und one edge of the 
tenons should be fitted 
to a dove-taU mortise, 
and keyed tight instead of being pinned. The braces 
a a, at the foot of the purline posts should be nearly 
as large as the purline posts ; and should face on the 
opposite sides from the girts shown above a a. Should 




^ NK \ 



X ^ 



k A 



FRAMING THE MIDDLE BENTS OP A LARGE 



240 todd's country homes. 

the purline posts be not less than twelve feet long, a 
beam might be framed in ; and there would be suffi- 
cient room to pitch with a horse pitchfork, both under 
and over the purline beam. If the doors are so ar- 
ranged that teams may be driven lengthways of the 
barn or across it, the framing will be nearly the same 
in both cases. Very large buildings may be framed in 
this manner; and if the work is well performed the 
sides will not spread one-fourth of an inch. When a 
barn is framed in this manner with purline beams, the 
boss must remember not to pin one of the outside posts 
when raising the building, until after the purline posts 
have been put up ; because, the girts which connect 
the purline posts with the main posts, cannot be put 
in after both of the main posts have been pinned, un- 
less one end of the girts is framed luithoiit a shoulder, 
so that it may be run through one post, and then 
brought back to its place and pinned. If the barn is 
very wide, there should be two middle posts instead of 
one, placed far enough apart for the width of the floor. 
Many farmers seem to prefer a lot of small detached 
barns to one large one. But those who have ever had 
a cluster of small barns, and afterwards have come 
in possession of a larger one, greatly prefer the latter 
to the former. On the score of economy, one large 
barn that will contain as much as three or four small 
ones, will cost nearly one-half less to erect it; and a 
number of small ones are never as convenient as one 
large one. The young farmer, as a general rule, need 
have no apprehensions that he will erect a barn larger 
than is necessary, for the complaint almost always is a 
want of barn room. Barn room usually is all occupied ; 



FRAMING LARGE BARNS. 241 

and in most instances it pays a good interest; but so 
much redundant house room as is too frequently met 
with, is a decided disadvantage to a farmer. A few 
years ago, bams were built with posts only twelve and 
fourteen feet in length ; because it was so laborious and 
expensive pitching hay or grain to the top of them. 
But now that we have very efficient horse elevators, 
out-buildings should be made much higher than they 
formerly were. It costs but a trifle more to frame a 
post twenty-four feet long, than one fourteen feet long ; 
and it requires no more rafters, and roof boards, and 
shingles, to cover a high building, than a low one. The 
posts of a large barn may just as well be, twenty-four 
feet long, as to be shorter. If such posts are eight 
inches square, no one need have any fears, that they 
would ever prove too small ; provided every one is well 
])raced. 

Reference should be had, in erecting a large barn, to 
the most proper and economical disposition of the room. 
The joists, which extend from one large beam to 
another, should be loose, so that, they can be removed 
until the mow is filled up to them, when they should 
be put in their places and a few loose boards laid on 
them. Then the lower part of the mow may be 
threshed out, after which the upper part can be 
threshed, and the straw deposited in the lower part of 
the mow. Should more room be needed, the horse 
fork may be used to pitch a lot of straw into the upper 
part of the mow. 

Every good barn should have a basement story ; and 
a water channel of tile should be laid around the entire 
foundation, as recommended for a cellar, in order to 

16 



242 



TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 



render it as dry as possible; and the barn-j^ard should 
be SO constructed that no manure will be wasted. (See 
Cellar.) 

Eave-troughs should conduct all surplus water into 
the tile, for the purpose of keeping the water passage 
open. Basement and cellar walls are often ruined by 
allowing the water to fall from the e^ves and to soak 
into the ground along the walls. 

When a carriage-house, hay-barn and stable are 
erected under one roof, the posts may be eighteen or 
twenty feet high, just as well as ten or twelve feet to 
the roof When the posts are short, there will be but 
little room for hay. It will cost but a few dollars more 
to erect a carriage-house with twenty-feet posts than 
with twelve-feet posts. 

As tie beams are always very much in the way in a 
hay-barn, in my carriage-house loft, braces, made of 
iron-wood poles six inches in diameter and seven feet 
long, were neatly fitted, tv'Uhout tenons, and bolted to 
the middle posts below the plats, and to the upper side 
of the middle beam with iron bolts three-fourths of an 

inch in diameter, as repre- 
sented by the accompanying 
figure. Such braces keep the 
beam from sagging, and the 
plates from spreading apart. 

By fitting a brace, without 
mortises, and bolting one end 
of it to the middle post just 
^^ below the plate, and the other 
end to the upper side of the 
beam which supports the floor, 




A TIE BRACE. 



FRAMING LARGE BARNS. 243 

the building cannot spread. Braces in such places, when 
put in with tenon and mortise, almost always give 
way, and it is not safe to rely upon them. 

Every additional brace gives additional stiffness to 
a building ; and the young farmer should insist on hav- 
ing the foot of every post braced, where they will not 
be in the way, with as long braces as there is room for 
receiving ; and each end should he well pinned. One brace 
at the foot of a post, is more effectual in rendering a 
high building stiff, than two braces at the top of it. 
The braces in a barn frame may face with the inside 
of the posts ; and then, they can cross the girts. And 
braces as long as can be received between the posts, 
can be used without interfering with the girts or studs. 

Jobbers will usually mutter and grumble, when re- 
quested to put in long braces on the inside of posts, 
and will deny the importance of having long braces, 
and of having the ends of them well pinned. But 
these ideas have not been penned without knowing 
from experience, how a building should be braced, in 
order to render it as stiff as possible, with a given 
quality and form of materials. It is by no means the 
largest timbers that are worked into a building, which 
impart the greatest strength and stiffness to the frame, 
but, it is the manner in which the framing is per- 
formed. Every tenon, where it is possible, should pass 
entirely through a sill or post, and be well pinned with 
very tough pins. The girts — or girders — should never 
be placed more than four feet apart. If they are much 
farther apart, the outside 'boards, which are nailed to 
them, will not be as firm as they should be. The main 
beams should be not less than fourteen feet from the 



244 todd's country homes. 

floor, so as to allow sufficient room for a load of hay 
or grain to pass under them. If such beams are eight 
by ten inches square, and supported at proper distances 
with middle posts, they will be large enough for any 
barn. The beginner should, at the commencement of 
a job, give the foreman directions to let the ends of 
every beam iiito the posts not less than half an inch, so 
that the pressure will not all rest on the tenons. 

The sleepers or joists of the principal floor should be 
stiff" enough to sustain any team and load without bend- 
ing ; and they never should be placed more than three 
feet apart, from center to center, even when two-inch 
plank is used for the floor. 

When there are a number of different kinds of tim- 
ber in the frame, such as soft and hard wood, the pro- 
prietor should see that the workmen have three or four 
different sizes of nails in their boxes. Every good 
joiner knows that it is not always practicable to drive 
ten or twelve-penny nails into seasoned hard wood. In 
nailing on siding or inch boards, if the timber is hard 
wood, nails of a smaller size should be used. Let a 
workman attempt to nail on a half-inch board with 
ten-penny nails driven into a stud of sugar-maple, 
thoroughly seasoned; and after the nail has entered 
about one inch it will bend or break, and the siding 
will most assuredly be split. Let six-penny nails be 
used for nailing into hard wood, and eights and tens — 
according to the thickness of the boards — when the 
studs, posts, or girders are of soft wood. 

In order to keep the large beams from springing out- 
wards or in either direction, two or three of the middle 
joists should be let in with a dovetail. 



THICKNESS OF SHINGLING. 245 

Rafters should be firmly spiked — not pinned with 
wooden pins — to the plates, because wooden pins are 
very liable to shrink and become loose. Then if the 
roof should project, as far as it ought to, in order to 
appear well, a violent gale of wind would lift the roof 
from the plates. But forty-penny nails will hold the 
rafters in place, far better than wooden pins. 

When a roof is covered with wooden shingles, a little 
care should be exercised in having the shingles three 
courses thick. The distance w^hich one course of shin- 
gles is laid above the other, is called laying to the loeather. 
If shingles are laid six inches to the weather, and the 
greater part of them are a little less than eighteen 
inches in length, the shingles will not be of three thick- 
nesses over the entire roof, but, there will be many 
places at the butts of each course, where the top end 
of the under course does not extend far enough up the 
roof to receive the water as it falls from the butts of 
the outside course. A new roof often will leak, be- 
cause the shingles are laid more than one-third of their 
length to the weather; whereas, the courses should be 
laid a little less than one-third the length of the short- 
est shingles. A half dozen poor shingles in a roof will 
make a very poor roof, even when almost every shingle 
is of the choicest quality of timber. 

How TO Scarf a Beam. — It is often very difficult 
to procure timber of a given length. Sills and beams 

that are well sustained 



m 



^^mim^&Mmmk^M with middle posts or studs, 
' subserve about as good 

a purpose if they are neatly scarfed together, and 
bolted, as shown by the accompanying illustration. 



246 todd's country homes. 

There are several different modes of scarfing, or 
"splicing" timbers. But some are very inefficient; 
while others will render a stick almost as strong as a 
whole piece of timber. 

Selecting Durable or Perishable Timber. — 
Many persons could save a vast deal of labor and 
money, when making preparations to build, if they 
were familiar with the durability of all kinds of mate- 
rials. Many a farmer has incurred the expense of 
hauHng pine and hemlock lumber twenty or thirty 
miles, when his own wood lot would have furnished all 
the timber required. I have known farmers to pay an 
extortionate price for pine plank for a barn floor, when 
he could have procured "clear-stuff" bass-wood on his 
own land, at less than half the expense of pine. Besides 
this, good bass-wood will make beautiful floors for any 
out-building or dwelling, where the floor is not exposed 
to the influences of wet and heat. 

In many localities durable timber for fence-posts or 
for sills to a building is exceedingly scarce. And yet 
there are so many varieties of durable timber that, if 
oak of any kind can not be obtained, some other kind 
of timber may be had which will be found quite as 
durable as oak. Red elm, if seasoned before the timber 
is employed for fence-posts, will last quite as long as 
oak. When red elm is employed as sills for a build- 
ing, as the newly hewed sticks are liable to warp and 
spring, the timber should be hewed, framed, put in its 
place, and protected from the sun all in one day, if 
practicable. In case red elm timber can not be secured 
in a frame soon after it is sawed or hewed out, every 
stick should be placed on a level foundation, so that 



SELECTING TIMBER. 247 

stones or heavy timber may be laid above it to hold it 
straight. Red beech is another kind of durable tim- 
ber, which will serve satisfactorily for sills of buildings, 
or for posts or beams, where the timber is liable to be 
exposed to dampness or the influences of wet and heat. 
Red beech will be found an excellent substitute for 
oak. As this kind of timber rarely grows where we 
find oak forests, it may be sawed into all kinds of tim- 
ber for dwelling-houses or out-buildings. It will make 
joists, studs, and excellent floor-boards, provided they 
are "stuck up" straightly soon after the logs are 
sawed, so that the pieces may have an opportunity to 
season straight without being warped by the sun. 
Butternut is another kind of timber that is often more 
durable than any oak, even when employed for fence- 
posts. Butternut is usually a soft wood, often softer 
than white pine. Therefore this kind of timber may 
be employed for roof-boards, flooring, for casing and 
window-sills, or for making doors. Yet, as butternut 
timber is so liable to warp and spring when the pieces 
are seasoning, it is always important that this kind of 
lumber should be stuck up while the timber is green, 
that it may be straight after the pieces are well sea- 
soned. The grain is so beautiful that Hr parlor finished 
with butternut lumber often looks richer than if wain- 
scoted with the best of black walnut. Many a man 
has purchased black walnut at an exorbitant price for 
making a hand-rail and balusters for his stairs, or for 
other work in his house, when there were large butter- 
nut trees on his own land which would have furnished 
ten times more lumber than he required, and that, too, 
of a superior beauty. 



248 todd's country homes. 

A common error is frequently committed in selecting 
durable building timber for dwelling-houses and out- 
buildings, and then, chooshig perishable timber for 
sleepers or cross-sills, though the main-sills may have 
heen procured of the best quality, at a large expense. 
We frequently see white oak, or red elm sills, and sleepers 
of sugar-maple, which will decay as soon as bass-wood 
or button-wood. When the ends of sleepers are re- 
ceived in gains cut in the sills, the very ends are more 
liable to decay than any other part, especially if water 
is allowed to find its way down in the joints. For this 
reason, it is always quite as important to select durable 
timber for joists and sleepers, as for sills. But, when 
the sills of a building are resting on a high wall, where 
the timber will not be exposed to the alternate influ- 
ences of moisture and dryness, almost any kind of 
wood may be employed ; and so long as water can be 
kept from the surfice, from cracks, and from mortises, 
even perishable timber will remain quite sound. Bass- 
wood, white beech, maple, and other kinds of timber 
that are known as perishable, will satisfactorily serve 
these purposes and continue sound, so long as the 
sticks can be kept dry. 

In numerous instances, persons who have many acres 
of oak, chestnut, and other durable timber, near by, 
have gone thirty miles to purchase hemlock scantling 
and boards for building a barn, when either of the 
kinds mentioned, would have subserved a more satisfac- 
tory purpose, and would not have cost one-half so 
much. Oak and chestnut will make excellent roof 
boards, or vertical boards for any out-building. I have 
in mind a barn that was covered with bass-wood boards^ 



CUT-NAILS HOW TO USE THEM. 249 

put on vertically, in 1832 ; and they are good for an- 
other thirty years. Had the boards been seasoned, 
planed and painted, as they should have been before 
they were used, they would have been quite sound at 
the present writing. I have met with many large barns 
at the West, which were built wholly of oak. 

Cut-Nails; and how to use them. — Cut-nails are 
frequently made of such poor iron, that there is but 
little more strength in them than there would be in 
cast-iron nails. For this reason, a few of them should 
be broken, when one is about to make a purchase of 
any considerable quantity, for the purpose of testing 
their brittleness or tenacity. If a cut-nail will break 
into several pieces, when it is set on one end, and struck 
with a hammer, the iron is exceedingly poor, and such 
nails will not be at all suitable for building fences or 
dwelling-houses. When one is about to make board 
fence, the nails should be tested, as poor nails will be 
constantly breaking, when they are exposed to only a 
light strain. We have cut-nails of almost every inter- 
mediate size, from three-j)enny to sixty-penny. And 
many of the sizes for ordinary use in house-building 
are known as finishing nails, which are made with 
smooth heads; while the ordinary nails have ragged 
heads, which are liable to crush and break the wood 
near the head, when the nails are- driven well in. A 
vast deal of judgment is requisite in using nails, when 
erecting buildings, or even when building a common 
board fence. Workmen should have a neat and light 
nail-box, with six or eight apartments for nails of differ- 
ent sizes. These apartments should be large enough to 
admit one's hand, when taking a nail from the bottom. 



250 todd's country homes. 

A neat nail-box made of half-inch boards, with ten 
apartments, each of sufficient capacity to hold one or 
two pounds of nails, will always be found a convenient 
appliance to a workman's outfit. A small dish contain- 
ing nails, is easily turned over. 

Now, then, when nailing on fence-boards or clap- 
boards, if the nail is to enter a very hard piece of tim- 
ber, the workman should be careful to use a nail that 
will pass through the board, and a short distance into 
the hard wood without bending up. When a workman 
attempts to drive a ten-penny nail, for example, through 
a board into a hard oak post, or a maple beam, after 
the point has entered about one inch, the middle of the 
nail will often bend and split the board, especially if it 
be driven near one end of the board. When siding or 
thin clapboards are nailed to hard wood studs of a 
house, six-penny nails will be more satisfactory than, 
those of a larger size. In finishing many other kinds 
of work, it is often desirable to have nails adapted to 
the work, and especially to the kind of timber into 
which the nails are to be driven. If ten-penny nails, 
or twelve-penny nails are employed where six-penny 
nails will subserve a more satisfactory purpose, there 
will be a loss in the cost of the nails, besides the con- 
sideration alkided to — the want of proper adaptation 
of the size of nails to the work. Twelve-penny nails 
are frequently used to nail down floor boards, when, by 
employing eight-penny nails, several pounds might be 
saved. The ordinary eight-penny building-nails are 
often employed in building board fence ; but, " fence- 
eighths," if the posts be hard wood, or "fence tens," if 
the timber were soft, would be far preferable. 



PURCHASING BUILDING MATERIAL. 251 

Cut-nails may be rendered very tough, by the simple 
process of annealing, which, for many kinds of work, 
will render them quite as valuable as if they were 
wrought-iinih. When cut-nails are employed for mak- 
ing gates, fodder racks and boxes, and for many other 
purposes, they should be annealed. It is always better 
to anneal fence nails, as they will not be so liable to 
break as if they had not been annealed. Annealed 
cut-nails, are always better than wrought-nails, for any 
kind of work. 

The better way to anneal cut-nails, is to make a 
small fire out of doors, with brush and chips, and when 
the wood is burning lively, pour on a keg of nails, al- 
low them to become red-hot, and then to cool in the 
embers, as the fire goes out. Nails should never be 
put into water, when they are hot. Neither should 
they be put into a fire that will burn them, by heating 
the iron too hot. By allowing the nails to cool gradu- 
ally, in the embers, tliey will be very tough. If, in- 
stead of allowing them to cool in the air, they are 
throwm, when red-hot, into linseed oil, it will prevent 
their rusting almost as long as though they were gal- 
vanized. Those who have occasion to use cut-nails in 
place of wrought, should not forget this simple method 
of preventing rust. 

The Way to Purchase Building Materials. — A 
great many people, when purchasing lumber for build- 
ings, disregard the importance of length and width of 
boards and planks, simply because they do not exercise 
sufficient forethought, as to the fact, whether the 
length and width do or do not make any difference. 
The size of framing timber should also be carefullj^ con- 



252 todd's country homes. 

sidered, as a great many dollars may be saved by deter- 
mining before the purchase, how small beams, sills, girts 
and posts may be, and yet be of consistent strength. 
When lumber is to be purchased at a distance, after a 
bill of the necessary amount of lumber has been pre- 
pared, it will be found an economical practice to com- 
municate with lumber dealers, in various parts of the 
country, for the purpose of determining the price for 
the kinds of lumber required. In this way, a shrewd 
and judicious builder, or buyer may often save from 
twenty to fifty per cent, in the price of his lumber. 
For example : If an elegant suburban villa were to be 
erected in the vicinity of New York City, and it were 
desirable to procure first-rate lumber, at the lowest 
cash price, it would be well to communicate with dealers 
of lumber in Maine, Georgia, Virginia, or other locali- 
ties, from which the market is supplied, with cheap 
and choice lumber. By addressing postmasters, editors 
of certain papers, or some other persons in these locali- 
ties, where large quantities of lumber are sawed, or by 
inquiring of lumber dealers in New York, from whom 
they receive lumber, it will not be difficult to come 
into communication with reliable dealers, who would 
respond to a bill of lumber with satisfactory prompt- 
ness. Manufacturers of doors, window-sash, and win- 
dow-blinds, in all the lumber districts, turn out im- 
mense quantities of these articles, often at a cheap rate. 
An economical way would be to determine, nearly one 
year beforehand, how many doors, window-sashes and 
blinds would be required, and purchase £hem, so that 
they might be thoroughly seasoned before they were 
worked into the house. 



PURCHASINa BUILDING MATERIAL. 253 

Another way in which money might be saved, is to 
communicate with a dealer in lumber, away back in the 
woods, where lumber is cheap, and give him a bill of 
the number of pieces of jamb-casings and face-casings 
required for all the doors and windows of a house, all 
to be planed on one side, tied up in packages of about 
one hundred pounds each, and forwarded by railroad 
or canal. A prudent manager could save more money 
in this manner than one would at first suppose. 

In case the style of finishing the rooms should re- 
quire much heavy moulding, it will be more economical 
to purchase the lumber, and have it taken to a ma- 
chine, where moulding can be made at a cheap rate, 
than to have the pieces worked out by hand. Lumber 
can be planed and the edges matched so cheaply by 
machinery, that it is far more economical to have all 
such work done at the planing-mill than to have boards 
planed and matched by hand. This is especially true 
of hard wood boards. In purchasing floor boards, it is 
best to select narrow ones, six or eight inches in width, 
as narrow boards will always make better flooring than 
wide ones. The foregoing suggestions will doubtless 
be sufficient to enable an intelligent beginner to pur- 
chase his bill of materials in the most economical 
manner. 

As a great many enthusiastic beginners trust to 
others who know little and care less for the interest of 
an employer, the usual way of beginning to build is to 
order so many thousand feet of joists, so many feet of 
studding, and so many thousand feet of other lumber, 
without any regard to length or breadth of the boards 
and planks. The true and economical way would be 



254 todd's countey homes. 

to determine, with great care, how many studs of a 
given length, how many joists of various lengths and 
breadths, and about how much thick stuff will be neces- 
sary, and to provide the boards and planks of such a 
length and breadth that they may be cut into casings 
and base-boards with a minimum amount of waste. As 
a general rule, the longer the lumber and the wider the 
boards, the less will be the waste when they are worked 
up for any purpose. Therefore, in ordering a thousand 
feet of thick stuff of any kind, to be worked up in con- 
structing a dwelling-house, it will be found an eco- 
nomical practice to select lumber not less than sixteen 
feet in length, and not narrower than twelve inches. 
Calculations should be made as to the width of the 
base-boards in most of the rooms. Then such pieces 
should be ordered as may be fitted up with the smallest 
amount of waste. If, for example, the base-boards are 
to be about seven and one-half inches wide, it will be 
easy to determine about how many feet in length will 
be required for all the rooms. By ordering so many 
pieces of thick stuff, sixteen feet long, and of a given 
breadth — say eight inches wide — all waste will be 
avoided, and a large amount of expensive labor may 
be saved. These suggestions may be put in practice 
in regard to many other items connected with both the 
purchase of materials and the execution of the w^ork. 
Hundreds of dollars may often be saved in the erection 
of a single building by taking proper advantage of cir- 
cumstances which tend either directly or indirectly to 
diminish the expense of materials alone, or which affect 
both the cost of materials and the expense of manual 
labor. 



FKAMING BUILDINGS BY RULE. 255 

When one is purchasing framing timber for a large 
barn, which is to rest on a heavy foundation wall, there 
is no necessity whatever in providing sills of such enor- 
mous size as are employed when the structure rests on 
corner and middle posts, or stones. A sill three inches 
thick, by eight wide, is sufficiently large and strong for 
any barn, which rests on a permanent wall. And the 
beams, instead of being 10 x 12 inches square — and 
often larger than this — need not be more than 7x9 
inches. It will be far better to put in a larger number 
of long braces, than to employ larger and heavier tim- 
ber with only a few short braces. If a beam must 
necessarily sustain a heavy weight, let it be strength- 
ened by iron rods from the roof 

Framing Buildings by the Scribe or Square 
Rule. — Only a few decades of years ago, every framed 
building was put together according to the "scribe 
rule." If the framed timber of many of the old barns 
and dwelling-houses is examined, it will be seen that, 
wherever two sticks of timber of any size were united 
by tenon and mortise there are corresponding marks 
cut with a chisel near the joints on the face side of the 
timber, to indicate that those two sticks were to come 
together in the frame. When a building was framed 
according to the "scribe rule," every tenon — even the 
tenon of a brace — was put into the mortise for which 
it had been prepared; and posts, beams, braces, and 
girts were all put together for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing whether every part would fit in a neat and work- 
manlike manner. The pin-holes were previously bored 
in the beams and posts, so that the exact place might 
be indicated with a pencil on the tenon, by marking on 



256 todd's countky homes. 

the side of the tenon around the edge of each hole. 
Then, more or less allowance could be made for '^ draw- 
boring" the tenons. When rafters were to be framed, 
the lower ends of a single pair were fitted to their re- 
spective plates, while the other ends were crossed, and 
the joint marked on the side of one rafter by means of 
a plumb-line. Then, after the end was sawed off, the 
other rafter was marked by the first, as the upper ends 
were placed together. By this means neat joints were 
made, sufficiently accurate for a pattern for the remain- 
ing rafters. Whenever timbers were to be framed to- 
gether at any other than right angles, as in framing 
trusses, for example, the top chord and the bottom 
chord were spread out on their sides, in the desired 
position, so that the joints for the shoulders could be 
marked off with satisfactory accuracy. Then, after 
every part was framed, the timbers were put together 
to ascertain whether the joints would fit as they should. 
(See the word truss in Webster's Unabridged Diction- 
ary.) These remarks will convey briefly a fair idea of 
the modus operandi when framing a building according 
to the "scribe rule." 

The difference between framing a structure accord- 
ing to the " scribe rule " and according to the " square 
rule" is simply this: When a building is framed accord- 
ing to the "square rule," none of the parts are put 
together to be fitted before the structure is raised. 
The timber is all squared, the mortises and tenons laid 
out, and the framing done in the same manner when 
working by the " scribe rule " as when timber is framed 
\^j the "square rule," except that in the latter case, 
the work is laid out by drafts on a small scale ; and the 



SCRIBE RULE AND SQUARE RULE. 257 

length of braces, rafters, and other diagonal timbers is 
determined by figures, which is a more easy way than 
to spread out a number of large sticks of heavy timber, 
and move them little by little — measuring and moving 
alternately — until the various pieces cross each other 
at the desired angles. In order to convey a fair idea 
of the manner of framing a barn, for example, after 
the plan has been adopted, make a draft of one end of 
the frame, on a smooth board, using a correct steel 
square, so that the lines which represent the posts 
Jind sills may be exactly at right angles. Make the 
draft on such a scale that every inch, of line on the 
board may represent one foot in length of the sill or 
post. Draw a fine pencil-mark across the diagram, 
from the top of one plate to the other, in order to get 
the correct pitch of the roof We will suppose, for 
example, that the building is to be thirty feet wide, 
and that the ridge of the roof is to rise ten feet above 
the plates, which will give a roof of one-third j^itch. 
Now, place the corner of the steel square at the mid- 
dle of the line extending from the top of one plate to 
the other, and strike a perpendicular line upward ten 
inches, to indicate the ridge of the roof. By measur- 
ing from this point to the outer and upper corner of 
the plates, we find the distance to be about eighteen 
feet and one inch, which will be sufficiently accurate 
for cutting the length of rafters, provided there are no 
purlin plates. But as figures are always more correct, 
the length of rafters and braces should be worked out 
to the fraction of an inch, by the rules for calculating 
the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle. In order 
to get the correct bevel for laying out the shoulders of 

17 



258 todd's countkt homes. 

tenons, adjust a bevel square to correspond exactly with 
the lines of the diagram. It is thus possible to make 
a mark at the required angle, and to cut and frame the 
pieces of the desired length, with the assurance that 
every joint will fit neatly, without "cutting and try- 
ing," before putting the entire frame together. The 
builder, while laying out a frame, needs to set up a 
regular "air castle" before his imagination, so that he 
can perceive how every piece of timber, when he is 
laying it out, or framing it, will appear after the struc- 
ture is raised and every part is in its proper place. A 
master mechanic must be so familiar with marking for 
tenons and mortises that, when a tenon has been made 
for a given mortise, he will feel assured, without a trial, 
that every part will fit together like clock-work. 

Were there to be a conference between carpenters, 
one from each of the States to forward each a stick of 
timber to New York City, for a large structure, I would 
have no hesitancy in superintending the labor of putting 
such a frame together, with the confident assurance that 
every joint would fit neatly, provided each man had 
laid out his respective stick accurately, as directed, and 
had cut every joint to the marks. 

A CHEAP BAEN AND OUT-BUILDING. 

Fig. 1 is the front elevation, showing vertically board- 
ed and battened sides, shingle roofs, and ventilators. 
Yet a stone or concrete barn, may be erected on the 
same plan. There are many excellent points, for some 
people, in the arrangement of this clump of out-build- 
ings. Yet, they will satisfy the requirements of only 
a few. The whole plan and arrangement can be varied 
at pleasure. The accompanying plan is not offered as 



A CHEAP BAKN. 



259 



a model, although it is a very good one for a grain and 
stock farm of small size. A glance at the plan will 




Fig. 1. A BARN FOR A SMALL FARM. 



show in the main building, the old-fashioned bay and 
threshing-floor, borrowed from our German and English 
neighbors, and retained by many farmers as an essen- 
tial feature of the Yankee system of barn-building. 




Fig. 2. GROUND PLAN OF BAKN. 



Fig. 2 represents the first or ground-floor plan. T R 
shows the threshing-floor, 16 by 32 feet. B is the bay, 
24 by 32 feet. S represents the shop and tool room, 
13 by 13 feet. G is the granary with bins, 13 by 16 



260 todd's country homes. 

feet. W H represents the carriage house, 16 by 20 
feet. H S are stalls, 5 feet wide. H R is the harness 
room, 10 by 16 feet, with stairs to the loft. F B shows 
the feed-room, with boiler, 12 by 16 feet, and a range 
of cattle stalls adjoining, 4 feet wide each. C C, corn- 
house and grain-room, 10 by 15 feet. P is the piggery, 
12 by 12 feet. H is a hennery, 10 by 15 feet. All the 
buildings are well ventilated and lighted. A large 
water-tank is placed in the barn-yard, into which the 
rain-water is conducted from the roofs, one-half of the 
tank being arranged as a filter, the other as a pure 
water compartment, from which the water to be used 
is drawn. The main building is 34 by 44 feet, with 
wing extensions on each side, 18 by 66 feet, in which 
provision is made for stock, feed, and grain. One side 
forms an L, 40 feet long. These extensions are one- 
and one-half stories high, with cellars for roots, and ma- 
nure pits, below the first floor. Posts of extensions 
are 16 feet high, and posts of main building 24 feet 
high, giving abundant loft room. 

The cost of such buildings will be the chief consid- 
eration, as plans can be varied, to conform to circum- 
stances. Almost every person desires to understand 
about how much his out-buildings will cost. This may 
be determined by a little figuring. If you do not feel 
competent yourself, to make a bill of the framing tim- 
ber, and the foundation walls, sit down some evening 
with a builder, who will aid you in indicating, on paper, 
exactly what will be required. Offer to pay a compe- 
tent person liberally for one hour's service. Then, get 
a bill of the framing timber, with the cost per hundred 
feet; the number of square feet of boards, with the 



HEIGHT OF BARNS. 



261 



cost ; and so on with every item from the bottom to 
the top. Lumber, in some localities, will cost less than 
half the price of the same materials in other places. 
Any person who understands the fundamental rules of 
arithmetic, can determine in a short time how many 
feet of boards and flooring will be required for any 
building. Let me urge one consideration, which is to 
spread out the boards that are to be employed for cov- 
ering the building, and sun them thoroughly, for two 
months, or longer. Turn them over occasionally and 
keep the convex side up. If lumber is not thoroughly 
seasoned in this manner, the boards will shrink almost 
out of the matching. 

Let me suggest to beginners the importance of build- 
ing barns much higher than out-buildings have hereto- 
fore been erected. The 
sides of such a barn as is 
represented above, might 
be twenty feet, as well as 
twelve. The same roof 
would cover a high barn, 
or a low one. If it is 
practicable, there should 
always be stables, or high 
sheds, or a lower story, 
beneath the main super- 
structure of every barn. 
Even when the barn is 
erected on a level site, 
the expense of building a cheap cornice. 

an abutment on which to ascend to the floor above the 
basement, will cost only a limited sum of money, as 




262 todd's country homes. 

earth can be carted when laborers have no other em- 
ployment. 

The figure on page 261 illustrates several important 
points in the construction of a balloon frame. The end 
of the joist is represented as nailed to the stud. Also, 
the manner of fitting the rafters to the plate P, is shown, 
with one end of a collar beam nailed to the rafter R. 
The roof should project not less than eighteen or twenty 
inches. If it were preferred, the ends of the rafters 
may be planed, and the under side of the roof boards 
painted. 

When cottages of this style are built only one and 
one-half stories, the sides are apt to spread, unless 
some means can be employed to prevent such dam- 
age. In case a partition were to be built across the 
upper part of the house, such a brace may be secured, 
with bolts in the place where the partition is to be put 
up. Then, pieces of studs may extend from the upper 
side of the brace to the collar beams, or to the rafters. 



CHAPTER YII. 

VENTILATION. 

Thorough Ventilation — Natural Means of Ventilation — Necessity of Pure 
Air in Sleeping Apartments — No Fear of Catching Cold — Aerophobia 
— Cold Air Better than Warm — Damp Air not Necessarily Hurtful — 
Night Air — How to Ventilate. 

Thorough Ventilation of Living-rooms. — Re- 
spected reader, did you ever imagine your abode — your 
house, grounds, and everything else — to be at the bot- 
tom of a deep ocean, and yourself provided with a 
breathing apparatus, sufficiently powerful to inhale and 
exhale water, as we now breathe air ? And yet we do 
dwell at the bottom of a boundless ocean of air, about 
forty-five miles deep; and the superincumbent pres- 
sure of such a vast body of air forces it into everj^ pore 
of our flesh; and every knot-hole, crevice, and cranny 
of earth, rock and wood is pervaded with air. We 
cannot live without having a bountiful supply of air to 
breathe both when we are awake and while we sleep. 
An abundance of pure air is eminently essential to 
healthful animal and vegetable life. When air con- 
taining offensive and poisonous effluvia is inhaled, much 
of the poison will be lodged in our bodies, thus pro- 
ducing disease in various forms, sickness and death. 
Most people, some of whom pass for intelligent citizens, 



264 todd's countky homes. 

are superlatively stupid in regard to the purity of the 
air they breathe. And yet food that happens to be 
the least atom tainted they will cast away at once, 
because it would be exceedingly detrimental to their 
health to eat it. But how is it about the air they 
breathe ? When the air should be as pure as the 
spring breezes of Ceylon and Java; when every part 
of the room is as full as it can well be of most foul, 
fetid, and offensive, loathsome, unhealthful particles of 
impure and poisonous matter, they contrive to live and 
breathe, without a murmur, as if they were inhaling 
the refreshing zephyrs directly from the green and fra- 
grant fields of the country. Fastidious persons, who 
would recoil at the thought of merely tasting any food 
that has been in contact with the mouth of another, 
even if he were neat and clean, inhale the fetid air 
that has been not only in the mouths of repulsive and 
filthy people, but that has been again and again in the 
diseased lungs of those whose breath is as corrupt as a 
filthy stream of water, when compared with the crystal 
rill that flows from the mountain spring. Language 
fails to convey a proper idea of the superlative filthi- 
ness of a great many people touching the impurity of 
the air they breathe. All the victims of war, pesti- 
lence and famine would not equal the untold number 
of people who have gone down to an untimely grave, 
simply from breathing unwholesome air from day to 
day and through the livelong night. 

Could our vision be improved, so that we could only 
see the pestilential and pernicious effluvia that floats in 
the air we breathe, over and over again, it does seem 
as if the appalling sight would prompt us to make more 



NATURAL MEANS OF VENTILATION. 265 

satisfactory provision for the introduction of pure air 
into our sleeping and living-rooms. Illustrious blind 
guides that we are ! So long as we cannot see the evil 
with our natural eyes, just so long we are contented to 
go on and breathe poison, destruction and death. We 
are feelingly alive to every consideration relative to 
eating, but no tongue can tell the rottenness of our 
convictions and practices in regard to breathing! 

Natural Means of Ventilation. — Motion is es- 
sential to ventilation. The winds blow and whirl about 
continually, almost solely for the purpose of purifying 
the atmosphere by sweeping away the impure odors 
that float in the air, rendering it detrimental to animal 
life. The tides ebb and flow without cessation, mainly 
for the purpose of keeping the water pure, where it 
would soon stagnate and fill the earth with pestilence 
and destruction. The driving winds carry away and 
purify the foul air of unheal thful places in a few min- 
utes ; and the place is supplied with an atmosphere 
that invigorates the bodies of men and animals ; and 
the vital fluid sends a glow of health to the cheeks of 
the pale and sickly invalid. Therefore, the entire air 
of a living-room should be changed repeatedly; and 
fresh air should be forced in, while a current of foul 
air is escaping. A person cannot have refreshing sleep, 
unless he can breathe pure air, during the entire night. 
In very cold weather, people complain that they can 
not keep warm under half-a-dozen quilts. The true 
reason is, they do not get pure air to inhale while they 
sleep. If they could inhale the cold and pure air, as 
they lie in bed, much less covering would be required 
to maintain a comfortable degree of animal heat. Cold 



266 todd's country homes. 

and damp air, for the purposes of sustaining animal 
heat by respiration, is infinitely more healthful than 
a dry atmosphere, because the amount of oxygen is 
much greater than in ihe same volume of dry air. 

If you cannot open the upper sash of your sleeping- 
room window, remove the stops beneath the stiles, saw 
off a few inches, so as to allow the top sash to be 
shoved down. Then, raise the lower sash and shove 
down the uj^per one, so as to produce a current of air 
in your room to carry away the foul matter in the air. 
There is no danger of taking cold by breathing cold 
air, when you are asleep. But shut yourself up in a 
close bedroom, where you will be obliged to breathe 
the same air over and over again, and 3^our breathing 
apparatus will soon become so inflamed that you will 
think you have contracted a violent cold, when the 
truth is, you have poisoned the delicate organs of your 
throat and lungs, by breathing over foul air, until it 
was actually poisonous. During the coldest weather 
in winter, I ahvays open my window, and let the pure 
breezes of heaven blow in my face while I sleep. And 
I never took cold from such a course. Instead of look- 
ing as pale and cadaverous as a ghost, my countenance 
is as ruby as the face of a whiskey toper, simply be- 
cause I get pure air to breathe. 

Cold Air better tiian Warm Air. — Gentle reader, 
did you never go into a room where there was a fire, 
and feel colder than while you were out of doors ? I 
dare say you have often done so. The philosophical 
reason of such a sensation is, that pure and cold air 
produce more bodily or animal heat, than the warm 
dry air in the house. Many people are frightened half 



COLD AIR BETTER THAN WARM. 267 

out of their wits, at the thoughts of inhaUng damp, 
night air. There never was a more egregious error 
promulgated about air ! Damp air, if it is not stag- 
nant, is the most healthful air one can breathe. Nu- 
merous experiments on the air in Paris gave less car- 
bonic acid in the night than in the day-time. The au- 
thor adds his testimony. He says : "1 have practiced 
for many years sleeping with my windows open every 
night, summer and winter, allowing the unobstructed 
breeze to flow across my bed, to the great improvement 
of my health and strength." Benjamin Franklin is 
also quoted in his letter to Dr. Ingenhaus, physician of 
the Emperor of Austria. He writes : " Some are as 
much afraid of fresh air as persons in the hydrophobia 
are of fresh water. I myself had formerly this preju- 
dice — this aeroj^hohia, as I now account it. I consid- 
ered it an enemy, and closed with extreme care every 
crevice in the rooms I inhabited. Experience has con- 
vinced me of my error. I now look upon fresh air as 
a friend. I even sleep with an open window. I am 
persuaded that no common air from without is so un- 
wholesome as the air within a close room that has been 
often breathed and not changed. Most air, too, which 
I formerly thought pernicious, gives me now no appre- 
hensions ; for, considering that no dampness of air ap- 
plied to the outside of my skin can be equal to what is 
applied to and touches it within, my whole body being 
full of moisture, and finding I can lie two hours in a 
bath twice a week, covered with water, which certainly 
is much damper than any air can be, and this for years 
together without catching cold, or being in any other 
manner disordered by it, I no longer dread moisture, 



268 todd's country homes. 

either in air, or in sheets or shirts ; and I find it of im- 
portance to the happiness of life. 

Do you know why a farmer's kitchen is usually the 
most healthful room in the whole house? Because 
there is usually steam escaping from some vessel on 
the stove. Aqueous vapor is a great purifier of air. 
Pour water on the stove in your sleeping-rooms, and 
fill the air with vapor. Such air will be far more 
healthful than dry, stagnant air. Stables and apart- 
ments of all kinds for domestic animals, should be 
thoroughly ventilated. More horses are rendered blind, 
and are troubled with a violent cough and broken wind, 
in consequence of close stables, than from any other 
cause except hard driving. Every stable should be 
provided with capacious ventilators, passing up through 
the building to the roof. The immense quantities of 
ammonia arising from the manure, operate like poison 
to eyes and lungs of horses. The entire air in an 
apartment where people dwell or animals live, ought 
to be changed often. Large ventilators should carry 
out a stream of air, just as a large chimney of a dwell- 
ing-house, where there is a spacious fire-place, will 
change the air of a large room, every hour, so long as 
the fire is kept up. This suggestion explains why a 
room where there is a fire-place, is always the most 
pleasant, cheerful and healthful apartment of the dwell- 
ing — the air is changed often, and is consequently kept 
fresh and pure. 

Suggestions about Night Air. — Judging from what 
many persons express about night air, one would sup- 
pose it to be loaded with pestilential breath and baleful 
miasma. But how utterly absurd and stupid to talk 



SUGGESTIONS ABOUT NIGHT AIR. 2G9 

about inhaling the hurtful night air. " Florence Night- 
ingale," in some of her lucubrations, alludes to this 
subject as an extraordinary dread of breathing night 
air. If people would think, for only a moment, they 
would perceive how utterly absurd and stupid it is, to 
talk about breathing or not breathing the night air. 
What air can we breathe at night but the night air? 
The choice is between pure night air from without and 
foul day air within. And yet, most people prefer the 
latter. An unaccountably stupid choice ! What will 
they say, if it is proved to be true that fully one-half 
of all the diseases that we suffer from are occasioned 
by people sleeping with their windows shut ? An open 
window, most nights in the year, can never hurt any 
one. In the great cities, night air is often the best, 
and purest to be had in the twenty-four hours. Good 
ventilation can not be obtained without letting; the 
night air in, from the outside. You have got to breathe 
night air during the flight whether you wish to or not, 
for there is no other. The choice lies between that 
which is pure and that which is impure, between that 
which has during the day been wafted about by the 
breezes of heaven, purified of its carbonic acid and 
other gases and impurities by the rains and by the 
growing vegetation which seek them out, and take 
them unto themselves for their own sustenance, and 
vitalized and still further purified by the life and health- 
giving rays of the sun, and that which has been kept 
stagnant and confined within the walls of the house 
and which is and must be filled with all kinds of dust 
and poisonous gases and emanations from the skins and 
lungs of the inmates, with no chance for jDurification. 



270 todd's countkt homes. 

Which will you choose? If the former, open your 
windows and doors, and freely let in the piire air from 
without, and as freely allow the inipure air within, to 
escape to the garden, the field and the forest, where it 
may become purified, and in becoming so, impart 
strength and vigor to vegetable life. If you choose 
the latter, keep the doors, windows and blinds closed, 
breathe the impure and poisonous air over and over 
again, and prepare to grow pale, weak and scrofulous, 
and to lead a short, useless invalid life. But, sensible 
people understand, that animal life, in health, can not 
be sustained without fresh air. Damp night air is 
more healthful than the dry air of the day. Every 
person needs about twenty cubic feet per minute, to 
keep him in good health. One cannot sleep quietly, 
and feel refreshed, unless he has an abundance of fresh 
air to breathe. One chief reason why many people 
feel so crotchety and ill-natured in the morning is, they 
do not have fresh air to breathe, while they sleep. 

How TO Ventilate. — Shove the upper sash down 
a few inches, and make an aperture in the chimney, or 
leave the fire-place open. Then a current will be 
formed. When a room is full of poisonous air, we 
cannot introduce fresh air until a portion of the impure 
air has been forced out. In many instances, a per- 
forated base-board is made around every room, so that 
the foul air, which is always heavier than pure air, may 
escape through them into some out of door passage. 

Carbonic acid gas, which is destructive to animal 
life, is generated in every apartment where men or 
animals live and breathe. Of course this gas is not 
free, but mingled with the atmosphere. As it is heavier 



HOW TO VENTILATE. 271 

than atmospheric air, the apertures through which this 
foul air is to escape should be made near the floor. 

One of the cheapest and most effectual ways to ven- 
tilate a school-room would be to have perforated base- 
boards, so that the foul air could enter the large spaces 
between the joists, and thence pass away through a 
large chimney flue. Then a ciuTcnt of fresh air could 
be conducted in a pipe to the stove, or heater, so as to 
produce a current. By this simple and cheap arrange- 
ment every pupil in a large room could always be sup- 
plied with pure air of an agreeable temperature. In 
case there is no flue or ventilating shaft, a wooden flue, 
about eighteen inches square, could be erected at one 
end of the building, having an aperture in the side for 
the foul air to escape. But it is always more satisfac- 
tory to open a passage into a large chimney, as the 
heat and smoke will promote a draught from the room 
to be ventilated. If fresh air can be forced into a room 
by any means, when there is no flue, the lower sash of 
every window may be lifted an inch or more, to provide 
passages for the impure air to escape. By this means 
any living room can always be supplied with pure air 
at small expense.' As has already been stated, in order 
to secure perfect ventilation, heat or fans must be em- 
ployed to produce motion. If there is a heater or 
stove in a room, it will be a very easy thing to keep 
the air pure. All the air in a room must be removed 
every few hours, and an equal quantity of fresh air 
introduced. So lonoj as there is no draught to draw 
out the foul air, and to introduce fresh air, a room may 
remain filled with an atmosphere that is poisonous to 
animal life. 



272 todd's countey homes. 

The large room in Cooper Institute, where the Poly- 
technic Society and the Farmers' Club are accustomed 
to hold their weekly sessions, was formerly so badly 
ventilated that people who always want pure air, re- 
coiled from attending the meetings of these societies. 
But that room may now be filled with an audience to 
its utmost capacity for a day, and no one will be able 
to perceive any impurity in the atmosphere ; neither 
will a person sitting in any part of the room perceive 
a draught of either cold or warm air. The ventilation 
is as complete as could be desired. About every hour 
the entire volume of air in the room is changed by the 
following arrangement : The rostrum, or platform, was 
raised bodily about three inches above the main floor, 
and a large aperture was made in the chimney, through 
which the foul air could pass out. Then one outside 
window w^as raised a few inches, and a box tube, about 
one foot square, made of boards, w^as extended froui 
the window to the "-nest" of steam heating-pipes em- 
ployed to warm the room. The tube allowed a stream 
of pure air to flow directly to the nest of steam-pipes, 
where every particle was warmed. Of course the warm 
air would rise to the wall overhead,* and flow to the 
further side of the room. By this means a movement 
in the air is obtained, the equilibrium of the atmos- 
phere disturbed, and a current of foul air started imme- 
diately out of the flue beneath the rostrum. 

In the office of the well known New York Times, a 
lighted lamp or two are kept burning, at the bottom of 
the ventilating flue, the heat of which is sufficient to 
cause a draft up the flue. By this means, the air of the 
room is renewed several times, daily. 



CHAPTEE YIII. 

DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 

Personal Reminiscences — Commencing Life — The "Old Maid's" Money 
— Beginning to Live — Making Choice Pork — Management of Hams 
— Building My own House — Our Bridal Harness — Bridal Buggy — 
Bridal Cutter — How I paid for Wife's Muflf — Saving Money in New 
Inventions — How to get a Patent — Care of Boots and Shoes — 
Remedy for Cold Feet. 

" A man may spare and yet be bare, 
If his wife be naught — if his wife be naught! 
But a man may spend, and have cash to lend, 
If his wife be aught — if his wife be aught !" 

" Good husband without,it is needful there be : 
Good liousewife witlun,is as needful as he." — Tusser. 

My father was educated according to the old Con- 
necticut standard;, that " if a young man could read his 
Bible in an intelligible manner, Avrite a legible hand, 
keep his ordinary accounts correctly, and be able to 
cast interest on an ordinary note, his education was 
complete." I have often listened to the rehearsal of his 
experiences, when pursuing his juvenile course of study 
in the old mountain home, near New Haven, Connecti- 
cut. As candles would sell for money, he was per- 
mitted to collect pitch-pine knots, full of very com- 
bustible material, which were burned in the chimney- 
corner, to make a light for him to study arithmetic. • 

When I was fourteen, he thought I knew about as 

18 



274 todd's countey homes. 

much as he, since I could write about as well and ex- 
cel him in mathematics. He went to a grammar 
school eight evenings, where he received instruction 
from a clergyman. The winter that I was fourteen 
years of age, he allowed me to go to a district school 
four weeks, during which time I worked out every ex- 
ample in Adams' Arithmetic, besides a great many sim- 
ilar examples in practical affairs, attended to reading, 
writing and spelling, and learned enough of Brown's 
Grammar to enable me to parse easy sentences. Then 
I graduated, and was not allowed to go to school any 
more until I was nineteen years of age. Manual labor, 
making and saving money, constituted the chief end of 
my existence, summer and winter. But as I had de- 
voured all the school books — Peter Parley's Juvenile 
Geography, Arithmetic, Grammar, and Cobb's Spelling 
Book — I hungered and thirsted for something to read. 
Such a book as Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Chem- 
istry and Botany had never- been heard of My father 
took the Missionary Herald and a county paper, which 
latter was filled chiefly with advertisements. 

At the age of nineteen, my health failed from over 
work, over eating and under eating. I hardly knew 
that I had a stomach and nerves. Now, I can look 
back and see how recklessly I violated every law of my 
physical system, simply because I did not know any 
better. During three years of illness, I received one 
year's schooling, during which I became so well versed 
in Latin that I read the Latin Reader, Virgil, and Caesar, 
the Greek Reader and Greek Testament, and could 
conjugate any verb with satisfactory correctness. I 
cannot express the desire I had for knowledge. I was 



A FIDDLING FARMEE. 275 

about prepared for college. I told my father that if he 
had any of this world's goods to bestow on me, I wanted 
him to aid me in getting an education. But all the 
advice of friends and my own importunities failed to 
induce him to even 2^Tomise to aid me in the least. He 
felt satisfied that if I did not give up the idea of study- 
ing and writing so much, I would " most assuredly be 
crazy." My mother talked very tenderly on the sub- 
ject, with choked utterance, and advised me not to 
study any more, but to accept father's proposal to give 
me a small farm. As I had always found my mother 
a reliable counselor, I concluded to heed her sugges- 
tions. 

A Fiddling Farmee. — To give an idea of the regard 
I had for mother's — shall I call it a wMtyi f — it may not 
be improper for me to state that when in the academy, 
during my leisure hours, I made a nice violin, and 
could play some pieces of sacred music on it. Dancing- 
tunes and marches I nevet attempted to play. Well, 
my mother was so grieved at what I had done that she 
wrote me a brief letter — the only letter I ever received 
from her — in which she stated that her sorrow was so 
poignant at tlie thought of my having a fiddle that she 
could not sleep. The next morning I kindled a fire 
with the fragments of my nice fiddle. My mother's 
reasoning was like this : " A fiddle tends to dancing ; 
dancing tends to a long category of hurtful and dis- 
reputable amusements, such as late hours, midnight 
revelry and dissipation, immorality, licentiousness, rum, 
wretchedness and ruin." I have found her judgment 
sound on this point. 

Well, with extreme reluctance, I abandoned the idea 



276 todd's coijntry homes. 

of going to college. When I was fifteen years old, my 
father said a boy ought to know how to handle a rifle. 
So he allowed me to purchase a nice one for $11.00, 
which was to be paid for in apples. When I went to 
the market with a load of apples, the gunsmith was 
supplied with a bushel or two, until the rifle was paid 
for. As I had such an insatiable thirst for knowledge, 
I now disposed of my rifle for useful books. 

CoMMENCiNa Life. — My father settled me on a small 
farm of twenty-five acres the soil of which had been 
run to death and every product removed, until it would 
not pay to plow and sow. He had farmed it on the 
skinning system, until crops were exceedingly light. 
The land was then let out to Tom, Dick and Harry, all 
of whom had teased the impoverished soil, until it had 
yielded up almost the last atom of fertility. The build- 
ings on the place consisted of an old log house, which, 
I dare say, scores of people, were they now living, 
might point to, as the place 'that gave them birth ; be- 
sides a little old barn, 16 by 20 feet, a remembrancer of 
a whisky distillery. There was not a rod of under- 
drain on the farm; and the Canada thistles and wild 
mustard vied with each other for the ascendency, in 
every cultivable field. No house, no barn, no land that 
would produce half the yield of a fbi-* soil, no wife, and 
no money! And more than all else besides, I hadn't 
decent clothes to wear in which to press my claims, af- 
ter I had made up my mind that a wife was the grand 
motive power in man's existence. Surely some kind 
angel must have guided my doubtful steps, for every- 
thing seemed to smile propitiously on my pathway, 
wherever I went. Well, I had credit, and found some 




'"' k 



COMMENCING LIFE. 277 

favor among the ladies also. I knew what needed to 
be done to renovate my land, so as to render the soil 
productive, and I knew how to do it. But that task 
would require a long time, and more money than I 
could command for several years. I knew w^hat was 
requisite for erecting a house, and how to execute the 
plans ; and I knew also that a young man must have 
decent clothes, especially, when he purposes to make 
proposals. 

The Old Maid's Monet. — Well, a wife was the first 
item in my programme. I got a friend to introduce 
me to an old maid, in an adjoining town, who loaned 
me $70. I expended most of this sum in purchasing 
necessaries for erecting a workshop, and cloth for a suit 
of clothes, which I employed a young maid to make, 
and she made them just as well as a tailor would have 
done the job, and for only one-half his price. Here I 
exercised myself in saving money. I needed a saddle, 
and so on ; and the last ten dollars, I, like a twin brother 
of the animal with long ears, that the prophet Baalam 
rode on, gave to my dear minister, who for the love I 
bore to him read me, prayed me, preached me, and 
made an effort to have the choir sing me to Pande- 
monium, because 1 wouldn't marry his sister, instead 
of the sister of another minister, who could preach a 
little better than he. I had a span of good horses and 
an old plow harness, and my land was so miserably 
poor, that I could not gather hay enough to keejD my 
horses through the foddering season. The land was 
not rich enough to produce much grain j therefore, I 
was obliged to borrow money to buy hay and oats to 
feed my team. After a shop was completed, I could 



278 todd's country homes. 

not manage a farm without a barn. Therefore, I was 
obliged to borrow money to purchase shingles, nails, 
and weather boards for a barn. I expended $20 for 
help to do the heaviest work ; $50 for lumber and nails; 
and the rest I performed with my own hands. The 
first season at farming, I raised grain enough to keep 
my horses, to sow a few acres the next year, and sold 
fifty bushels of oats at eighteen cents per bushel. The 
carpenter work of my barn, 30 by 40 feet square, was 
all done when I could not labor on the farm. 

Beginning to Live. — A helpmeet had been secured 
who had a good cow, and necessary furniture for our 
shop-house, but no money to build a house. The first 
summer, my wife made three firkins of butter from the 
milk of that cow, besides having all the cream, milk 
and butter that we needed on our table. And we never 
used skimmed milk. Besides, I liked good rich cream 
more than the money it would bring. I am satisfied 
that the milk of that cow would have made five hun- 
dred pounds of butter, as we sold over three hundred 
and twenty pounds at ten cents per pound, of as beau- 
tiful, golden butter as one can find in the Philadelphia 
markets. For a while, until I could get another shop, 
my work-bench stood on one side, and the kitchen, 
dining-room and parlor were on the other. Well, I 
was obliged to draw on the bank of my old-maid friend 
again, to purchase some young cattle and pay for gro- 
ceries, etc. Meanwhile, the house was planned, a bill 
of materials prepared, and when my labors were not 
required in the field, I was doing something towards 
the new house. I exchanged work to get help to cut 
the saw logs, most of which were hauled four miles to 



BEGINNING TO LIVE. 279 

the saw-mill by myself, and as I had no money, I was 
obliged to give half the lumber for sawing. In this 
way, I obtained the joists, studs, rafters, roof boards, 
siding, and casing, all without one dollar. 

An effort was then being made to erect a parsonage 
for our dear minister, who loved me with such an ever- 
lasting vengeance. Appeals from selfish men to my 
ambition prompted my wife and me, as we had not a 
dollar to give, to turn out all our clapboards to build a 
house for our dear minister. With hearts swelling with 
beneficence, we turned out 2,600 feet of choice siding, 
that I had labored very hard to procure, because we 
had no money. Consequently, the erection of our new 
house must be deferred until another year. The next 
winter, I cut saw-logs on a neighbor's land, agreed to 
haul them to the mill, and give him one-quarter of the 
lumber. Half of it was required to pay for sawing, 
and I had one-fourth of it for my services. In this 
tedious way, I obtained another lot of siding for our 
house, without a dollar. Here let me throw in a par- 
enthetic phrase to show how I spent my mornings 
and evenings, when manual employments did not de- 
mand my attention. Every available hour was appro- 
priated to reading and writing. When I left the farm, 
I had manuscript sufficient to make a book of more 
than one thousand pages, which had been written 
during such hours as many men spend in smoking 
cigars and playing the loafer. Another draft must be 
made on the bank of my old-maid friend. Money was 
necessary to pay small expenses. I would not open 
small accounts. My blacksmith's bills must be paid; 
and I considered it better policy to borrow money to 



280 todd's countey homes. 

pay for things when they were purchased, than to con- 
tract small debts, as a blacksmith would perform a job 
for a dollar in cash, which would cost a dollar and a 
quarter, or more, if he were required to charge it and 
wait a few months for his pay. 

Making Choice Pork. — A few weeks before our 
'' Old Brindle Cow " came in, near the first of May, I 
engaged two nice pigs, for which I was to pay, in lieu 
of money, four bushels of Indian corn, when they were 
four weeks old. I could put one in each pocket of my 
overcoat. A spacious pen was made for them, and the 
little fellows were allowed to sleep in a barrel turned 
on the side and filled with clean straw. Ten such pigs 
could have found a nice bed in that cozy enclosure. 
Some distinguished philosopher has said, that if a boy 
would carry a small calf one hundred rods, every day, 
he would be able to carry the same animal after it had 
grown to be an ox. Furthermore, it was said, that if 
a pig were to creep through a hole of a given size, 
every day, he could go through the same hole until he 
had grown to be a large hog.. But, I found that after 
a few weeks, one pig had to stay out of the barrel. So 
that rule failed. But, another spacious and dry sleep- 
ing apartment was prepared, where they Were always 
comfortably warm. Three times a day, as regularly as 
I took my own meals, those pigs received a feeding of 
milk, a few kernels of corn, and apple-parings. But, 
extreme caution was exercised to feed no more, at one 
time, than the pigs would eat with avidity and then 
lick the trough. They grew like asparagus. After a 
few weeks, the refuse milk of one cow was not suffi- 
cient for two growing pigs. It was necessary to in- 



MAKING CHOICE PORK' 281 

crease their feed. But, as raw meal is liable to make 
young pigs scour, about a pint of equal parts of oats 
and wheat ground fine, was scalded at every feeding, 
for a few days, mingled with the milk and fed warm. 
As the object was to make the pigs grow, rather than 
to become fat, meal made of oats and wheat was supe- 
rior to Indian corn. The quantity was gradually in- 
creased, as their appetites seemed to call for more feed. 
When we were eating our meals, wife always had a 
tea-kettle of hot water ready, as soon as we were done 
eating, to scald the meal for the pigs, which was always 
measured in a pint basin. The hot water was poured 
on the meal, as it was stirred, until the mass became of 
the consistence of thin mush. In case I was absent, 
the pigs always received their proper allowance at the 
proper time. One feeding of raw meal would have 
played the mischief with their digestive apparatus. As 
soon as their frames were fairly developed, meal of In- 
dian corn in small quantities, was worked in their feed. 
Every day a handful of green grass, or red clover was 
put in the trough, which was eaten with avidity, and 
which aided materially in distending the stomach. 
When the porkers were about seven months old, they 
were slaughtered. One weighed two hundred and sev- 
enty-three pounds, and the other two hundred and fifty- 
seven pounds, dressed weight. I could easily have made 
them weigh over three hundred pounds each, by feeding 
more corn meal and less oats. But, the idea w^as to 
make hams and shoulders in which there would be a 
large proportion of lean meat, rather than too much 
fat. Such pork was suitable for human food. There 
were no trichinse in the meat. And the lard, after it 



282 todd's countky homes. 

had been rendered, looked as white as the unsullied 
snow. We calculated that the refuse milk of one cow 
was equivalent to the fattening of one pig, and the 
meal consumed, equal to the other. One hog was sold 
for about eleven dollars. The other we kept for our 
own eating; and more delicious meat is seldom met 
with. 

Management of Hams. — The side pork was thor- 
oughly pickled in brine, and all the trimmings and flank 
pieces were wrought into sausage meat, packed in pans, 
and covered with a layer of lard. Such sausage meat 
was so excellent, that those persons who generally re- 
coil at the thought of sausages, after eating the first 
dish, would hold up their plate for another supply. The 
hams and shoulders were rubbed with salt and molasses, 
and laid on a clean board in the cellar. After a week 
had passed, they were rubbed again. After they had 
been salted nearly one month, the meat was hung in 
an old sugar hogshead, where it was smoked for about 
two weeks, or until the outside was of a dark copper 
color. The smoke was made with dry maple or hickory 
sawdust, or with dry corn cobs. Great care was exer- 
cised in making only a little fire, not enough to heat 
the meat. After the smoking process was completed, 
the hams, shoulders, joles and tongues were all wrapped 
in paper, and packed in wheat bran in a barrel. Such 
meat was always excellent. When packed in such ma- 
terial, the surface did not mould, and flies could not 
reach the meat. • 

Planning and Building my own House. — That 
beautiful perspective, my reader, on page 283, repre- 
sents a house that I erected with my own hands, for 



BUILDING MY OWN HOUSE. 



283 



the occupancy of my own family, and you will, doubt- 
less, be interested to learn that every stick of timber 




was scored, hewed and framed by myself, and nearly 
every nail driven with my own hammer. This house 
was built in 1849, and with such care as the building 



284 todd's country homes. 

received, while it was in my possession, it would be in 
prime order two hundred years hence. For a small 
family, I have never met with any plan that excels it 
for convenience. My wife planned the arrangement of 
rooms, with a view to convenience for a housewife who 
does all her own work; and I have discovered but one 
fault in the arrangement, which is, the kitchen was too 
small. (Read suggestions about kitchens, page 55.) 
But my wife contended that the kitchen was no place 
for '*^ setters." Therefore, by making that room quite 
small, she would not be annoyed by loungers or other 
company, when cooking or washing. That was correct. 
Men should never be hanging around women in the 
kitchen. 

This house stands on an eminence, about one hundred 
feet from the highway, and there are many more trees 
than are represented in the perspective, nearly all of 
which were planted by myself. The finish consists of 
brackets similar to the illustration of a bracket, on 
page 37. The roof is what is denominated a ""hipped- 
roof," with one-third pitch. The horizontal projection 
at the eaves, is about two feet. The ridge of roof, be- 
tween the chimneys, is about seven feet. The chimneys 
rest on the collar-beams ; and each one is carried up 
square, a few inches above the ridge of the roof. Then, 
a small brick chimney, about two bricks by two and , 
one-half bricks square, is built about five feet above 
the shoulders, on which rest false chimneys, of an 
octagonal form, made of plank, two false chimneys to 
each main chimney. The wooden forms were painted 
red and penciled with white, to represent brick-work. 
The forms, or false chimneys, were secured in their 



BUILDING MY OWN HOUSE. 285 

places bj means of a small iron rod fastened securely 
in the shoulder of the brick-work, and passing up 
through the hollow forms. A nut on the top of each 
one held them firmly. The roof was made of some 
bass-wood and some sugar-maple boards, covered with 
the first quality of pine shingles. The sills and posts 
were about eight by ten inches square. The joists are 
sugar-maple and elm, two by eight inches square, and 
one foot apart, from center to center. The studs of the 
lower story of the upright part are two by six inches, 
nine feet long, and one foot apart, from center to center. 
The clapboards were part pine and some white-wood. 
Doors were made of white-wood stiles and bars, with 
bass-wood panels. I used a great deal of bass-wood 
and butternut in finishing the inside work. Had the 
frame been a balloon-frame, the house would have been 
stronger, and would have cost me much less timber and 
hard work. The roof was originally painted black, 
and the body of the house was a light peach-blow color. 
The cellar extended beneath the entire building, except 
the wood-house. A cistern was made beneath the 
kitchen, by simply making an excavation in the hard 
earth — which was exceedingly compact — and spreading 
water-lime cement directlj^ on the earth. The cistern 
was like a large bin at one side of the cellar. A hole 
was made through the wall of earth, and a lead tube 
inserted, even with the cellar bottom, so that by re- 
moving a plug, the water in the cistern would all run 
out in a few minutes, flow to the center of the cellar, 
run through a hole in a flat stone that was laid over a 
drain, and pass off to the lake. When we desired to 
clean the cellar bottom, the hole in the stone was 



286 



todd's countky homes. 



stopped, water let out of the cistern, till the cellar 
bottom was covered; then, with a broom, the cement 
floor was cleaned in a few minutes and all the dirty 
water passed into the drain. This was a convenient 
arrangement, and others, under like circumstances, may 
adopt the practice with satisfactory results. The cellar 
was six and one-half feet in the clear, rat and mouse 
proof. We occupied the house for ten years, and I 
never perceived any traces of a rat in the cellar. 

Ground Plan of my House. — The upright part was divided into a 
parlor, P, 16 by 16 ft. square; dining-room, D, 16 by 16 ft.; library, 
L, 8 by 8 ft. ; lobby or vestibule, V, 8 by 8 ft. ; and bed-room, B, 8 by 
16 ft. A decided improvement would have 
been to make the bed-room two feet wider, and 
the parlor two feet narrower; also, to have 
made the library, L, and lobby, V, two feet 
wider, and the dining-room two feet narrower. 
Then the library would have been sufSciently 
large for a small bed-room. A parlor and 
dining-room, for a small family, will be suf- 
ficiently large if 14 by 16 ft. ; or even 12 by 
14 ft. would be of respectable dimensions for 
the occupancy of a few persons. The upper 
part was divided similar to the lower portion. 
Over the dining-room, D, the room was entered 
from the wing, through a narrow entry; and 
the sleeping-room over the lower bed-room, B, was entered from the 
wing, through this hall. The front veranda was about six feet shorter 
than the front of the house. A bracket finish, of proportionate size, 
adorned the eaves of the veranda ; and the front part of the veranda roof 
was supported by shores, 2 by 3 inches square, set in pairs, with lattice 
work between each pair. 

The wing is 16 by 26 ft. The kitchen, including the pantry, P, kni 
stairway, is 16 by 14 ft. The pantry, 4 by 9 ft. Between the pantry 
and bedroom, B, is a clothes-room, opening into the bed room. A china 
closet, opening into the kitchen, is made in one end of the clothes-room. 
From the kitchen a person could go up stairs, down cellar, into the 





"W 




P 


IL 3 


. 


D 


T> 






P 




jll 


ti 



GROUND PLAN. 



BUILDING MY OWiN" HOUSE. 287 

pantry, out of doors, and into the dining-room. A veranda extended 
only a part of the length of the wing. A door opened from the dining- 
room, D, on the veranda. The cellar door can be at either end of the 
place designated as the stairway in the kitchen. The upper part was all 
in one room. It can be arranged to suit the fancy. In the L part of the 
kitchen is a sink and pump. Instead of a window, there might be a door 
and a veranda. 

Finding that a tight wood-house was not the thing for seasoning fire- 
wood, an addition, not represented in the plan, 12 ft. long, was built for 
a wood-house. On each side of the wood-house, just above the sills, 
were flaps which could be opened in fair weather to admit the air, and 
closed in stormy weather. In the perspective, the flap is represented as 
open. By this contrivance, wet and green wood, after having been kept 
in that wood-house for a few months, would be as dry as tinder. 

How I Built our House without Money. — My 
readers, just look back to page 283, and say if you 
think such an attractive edifice can be erected by a 
young man, who is just beginning his career, without 
any capital ? Well, I did it. But the task required 
more ambition and perseverance than would be requi- 
site to build a city, with the necessary pecuniary aid. 
Yes, strange as it may appear, that edifice was all con- 
ceived, planned, and the labor commenced and urged 
forward, from year to year, without the aid of a single 
dollar. I look back to-day with profound astonishment 
at the poverty which enveloped my path on every side. 
How extremely poor, as to money, I was ! And yet, 
the world was full of beauty, pleasure and comfort. 
Life was like a perpetual stream of joy. True, we had 
no money. But we (wife and I) never knew what 
want was, at the table. We raised our own eatables, 
our vegetables, pork, lard, butter, cream, milk, a little 
wheat, corn, mutton, and beef; but not a dollar could 
we seem to collect to invest in materials for a house. 



288 todd's country homes. 

How THE Nails and Shingles were Procured. — 
Here was a clincher for me. Nails, door and window 
trimmings could not be obtained without money. The 
improvement of my land, and very limited bills for gro- 
ceries and plain clothes, took every dollar that we could 
earn and that we dare borrow. We both dreaded bor- 
rowing money, worse than an approaching pestilence. 
But the prospect was fair that, after a few years, the 
land would be renovated so as to yield bountiful crops, 
which it did. Yet, a long time elapsed, before we could 
say, " There is grain enough to pay my old-maid friend, 
for borrowed money." 

Well, I tried to contract some lumber with a view to 
procuring shingles, nails and paint. Then, I thought 
I could commence the erection of our villa. After a 
long time, a carriage-maker agreed to take lumber, 
provided I would take pay for it out of a friend's store. 
That merchant friend had taken shingles to pay for 
goods. Therefore, by hook and crook, turning and shift- 
ing, I disposed of my lumber, which had been sawed 
on shares, and paid for shingles, nails, door trimmings, 
oil and paint. I then commenced the erection of the 
long-sought edifice. The framing timber was cut on 
my own land, so that the superstructure was jjut up 
and painted, without one dollar in money. A few 
bushels of lime for making mortar for the cellar wall, 
were purchased on time, and paid for in corn the next 
autumn, after the ears were fit to be husked. 

How the Laths were obtained. — Bass-wood logs 
were sawed into one and one-quarter inch plank, the 
sawyer taking half for his pay. My part of the plank 
was then sawed with my horse-slitting saw, into lath, 



BUILDING MY OWN" HOUSE. 289 

sixteen feet long; and neater lath were never Avorked 
into a house than those. A small circular saw was put 
on the mandrel of my wood saw, with which all the 
casings, lath and every kind of slitting was performed 
in the most satisfactory manner. All this work I per- 
formed with my own hands, without the aid of a single 
dollar. During the growing season, the labors of the 
field demanded my attention. But, during the winter 
and leisure days, my energies were appropriated to 
the house. Every stone for the wall was drawn over 
two miles, and every bushel of sand for plastering was 
carried out of a deep and dangerous sand pit, to the 
wagon, and carted, a part of it, three, and some five 
miles. In this way, I built our own domicile. And if 
my readers do not coincide with my judgment, that it 
was up-hill business, I will kindly ask them to point 
out a way that is beset with more embarrassments. 
Well, to cut a long story short, my land was brought 
up to an excellent state of fertility, by thorough drain- 
ing, raising red clover, making beef and mutton, and 
applying manure, so that my old-maid friend, after a 
long time, received her principal with interest, and we 
were even with the world, and could say, that we owed 
no man anything, but a debt which we can never ex- 
pect fully to discharge — love. 

You say : " That is the way young men should be 
required to help themselves." Perhaps it is the bet- 
ter way. But if I had a Hagar for a concubine, and 
her son were an Ishmaelite, he should never be placed 
in such straitened circumstances as I was. It is the 
most beastly way that parents can manage with their 
children, to plant them on a piece of land, where they 

19 



290 todd's country homes. 

must resort to such disadvantageous arrangements to 
get along at all decently, for want of a little capital. 

The windows were all in, but we had no money for 
purchasing the weights. But after much persuasion, 
the iron-founder agreed to take a choice quality of 
hard-maple wood toward them, at f 1.50 per cord, de- 
livered at his shop five miles distant. Such wood was 
worth one dollar per cord, as soon as it was chopped. 
Therefore I was obliged to haul a cord of hard wood 
five miles, for fifty, cents, and take my pay in window- 
weights. When the sleighing was fine, I could haul 
two cords per day, thus earning one dollar with my 
team. The hay and grain for my team and my own 
board were surely worth seventy-five cents, for we all 
lived well. But money seemed to be lacking. 

The Circular Stairs. — Putting up circular stairs 
was a degree, or more, beyond my skill in house- 
joinery, and I could not find a joiner in the town who 
dared trust himself to attempt to build those stairs. I 
procured all the works extant on architecture, but not 
one ray of light did they give me about erecting stairs 
of that style. Throwing aside all books in disgust, I 
swept off the floor where the stairs were to be made, 
found the center of the room, made a sweep for de- 
scribing a circle as large as the curvature of the base 
for supporting the outer ends of the risers and treads, 
and marked out on the floor as many treads as there 
would be risers in ascending nine feet. For example : 
The hight to rise was 112 inches. The risers of the 
stairs were to be about eight inches each. This would 
give fourteen treads, all of which were marked out on 
the floor, and the treads were dressed out of bass-wood 



BUILDING MY OWN HOUSE. 291 

plank, according to the pattern. A thin bass-wood 
board was bent around, in a spiral direction, for the 
base, and nailed to the studs. The studs were all set 
just far enough apart to receive tenons on the ends of 
the risers, which were passed through mortises in the 
base, and the tenons of the risers were nailed to the 
studs. The narrow end of the treads, at the well-hole 
(see glossary) were supported by staves, about four 
inches wide. The first stave was about eight inches 
long, the next sixteen inches, the third twenty-four 
inches, and so on. The wide ends of the treads were 
supported by driving nails through the base, into the 
ends of the treads. The treads and risers were bass- 
wood, and all the people that could stand on them, at 
one time, would not cause a single joint to snap. 

For a balustrade, I turned balusters, out of stuff about 
two inches square, having a round knob on the upper 
end of each, and the lower ends were screwed into the 
treads, so that all were exceedingly firm. To make 
each baluster more firm, a polished iron rod, three- 
eighths of an inch in diameter, was driven through the 
knob of each baluster, into the next one above it, at a 
point about eight inches below the middle of the knob. 
The balusters were made of several kinds of wood. If 
I remember correctly, I made one of white pine, one 
of black walnut, butternut, slippery elm, white ash, 
oak, and several other kinds of timber, all of which 
were oiled and varnished to show a variety of wood. 
No hand-rail proper was put on the balusters. A row 
of knobs constituted the hand-rail. They made a novel 
balustrade, it is true. Yet it was neat, subserved an 
excellent purpose, and cost only the labor of a few cold 



292 todd's country homes. 

days in dreary winter, when I could do no work out of 
doors. 

Cementing the bottom of the Cellae. — When 
the ground is so compact that it cannot be spaded, the 
cement may be spread directly on the earth. I placed 
a thick board, when cementing the bottom of my cel- 
lar, about one foot from the outside wall, flat on the 
ground, shoveled in the cement, and spread it down 
smooth with a trowel, so that the surface was even 
Avith the top of the board. Then moved the board 
along one foot, and spread cement even with the top of 
the board, and with the surface of the first course of 
mortar. Any common laborer, of ordinary skill, can 
lay a cement floor about as neatly as a mason. If the 
ground is soft, the surface should be paved, bricked, or 
flacro-ed. The cement should never be less than one 
inch thick. If the cellar bottom will ever be allowed 
to freeze, the frost will probably injure the cement, 
.should the earth beneath the cement freeze so hard as 
to heave. Where the ground can be spaded, the better 
way is to mnke use of quite large stones, that can be 
easily handled, and" lay a bottom tier, with the small 
ends up, then chink and level off with smaller stones 
and gravel to a straight edge. Next, thoroughly wet 
this foundation with a cement of lime wash, wdien the 
pavement Avill be ready to grout with a thin mortar of 
cement and coarse sand. To finish, spread on evenly 
a coat of good cement mortar, sift on sand, pack the 
surface well by pounding with a paver, or anything 
that will give a smooth surface, and remove the loose 
stones and gravel. A cellar bottom constructed in this 
manner, wall cost much less than flag-stones, and it will 



BUILDING MY OWN HOUSE. 293 

subserve a satisfactory purpose, for a life-time. (Read 
about cellars, page 93.) 

How THE Window-Blinds were obtained. — The 
first cost of these was about twenty-six dollars. That 
sum could not be raised, on my poor land this year or 
next, as there were other debts that must take the first 
money. I could calculate about how many dollars' 
worth we could sell at the end of the year, and it was 
clear that no money could be appropriated for window- 
blinds. Wife insisted that we must have some blinds, 
in some way or other. Our old-maid friend would 
cheerfully loan us all the money we wanted ; but, if 
we borrowed money we both wanted to see how that 
debt was going to be cancelled before the amount would 
double. The all-absorbing topic was, how shall we get 
those blinds ? We had already put our credit to the 
utmost test, necessarily, to improve the productiveness 
of the cultivable fields. We could do without blinds. 
Yet, if we had no blinds, curtains must come. 

My father had a timber lot of twenty-five acres, 
which had always lain open -" to the commons." Yet 
it was fenced on three sides. There was much pasture 
around the borders, which anight be economized. He 
allowed me to enclose it, by making a fence on the 
fourth side, and I could then pasture it, if I saw fit. 
Now the way seemed clear to get some blinds. To 
make a long story short, I purchased a lot of sheep, 
called on my old-maid friend, and told her I wanted a 
loan of one hundred dollars, laid before her my arrange- 
ments, and assured her that I would probably be able 
to pay her note in autumn. I drove the sheep to the 
wood-lot, sheared them soon, sold the wool for a fair 



294 todd's countey homes. 

price, purchased the blinds for our house, and in July, 
as the sheep were in good flesh, sold them. Then I 
called on my old-maid friend, cancelled the note, and 
had enough money left to pay for a bill of goods of 
forty dollars, at the store. 

You say, "That was a hard way to get a house." In- 
deed it was. Yet, it was an honorable and an honest 
way. For several years, all my energies were concen- 
trated on the house, when field labor did not require 
immediate attention. But when, at length, the finishing 
strokes were given, we had the satisfaction of knowing 
that we had a neat, comfortable and convenient cottage, 
and that every part of it was paid for. 

The manner of making the Doors. — The white- 
wood stiles and bars were all sawed out of the proper 
width, with the horse-saw. The bass-wood panels were 
also sawed out, and jacked off with a plane, so that the 
timber would season more advantageously. Then, all 
this stuff was " stuck up " overhead, in the kitchen, 
where it remained for several months, until every piece 
was thoroughly kiln-dried. The stiles and panels all 
being dressed out, I must have a joiners' plow, which 
would cost $5. As I had only ten cents of money, 
which we kept for seed, I extemporized, out of an old 
jack-plane, a plow that worked as accurately and re- 
quired less strength to shove it, than an adjustable five- 
dollar plow. As one want seemed to follow a neces- 
sity, the next thing was a mortising-machine. There 
was no use in thinking to obtain a mortising-machine, 
as that would cost not less than $25. With the aid of 
my new plow, in a few hours I extemporized a machine 
for mortising the stiles. Every part was wood, except 



MAKING THE BRACKETS. 



295 



the chisel, which a blacksmith forged out of an old file 
for ten cents. Away went our seed-money, which 
made it necessary to call again on our old-maid friend. 
I fitted up my rough looking ten-cent chisel, with lips on 
both sides, thrust it in the stove, brought it to a cherry- 
red heat, gave the edges a sky-blue temper, ground 
and polished it, and secured it with two wood 'screws 
to the gate of the mortising-machine. Nothing could 
work more neatly. The cutting edge would enter the 
wood like a warm knife-blade when cutting cold but- 
ter, and would bring out the chips at every thrust. In 
one minute, by the watch, I could put a neat mortise 
through a five-inch stile. The tenons, to make which was 
the most difficult and laborious job, were all cut with 
the horse-saw. Thus the panel doors cost ten cents. 

Making the Brackets. — The illustration herewith 
given, represents the form of the plank brackets that 
were made for the cornice. The 
roof was steeper than it is here 
represented. Representations of 
nails are shown as driven through 
the frieze boards into the edge of 
the bracket. The underside of the 
roof boards was planed and painted. 
The brackets were worked out with 
a hand-billet saw, drawing-knife 
and spoke shave. When planks 
of the desired width could not be 
obtained, two pieces were doweled 
together. A turned drop in the 
form of an acorn, was secured to each bracket, as repre- 
sented in the illustration. The frieze was about four 




A FANCT BRACKET. 



296 todd's country homes. 

feet wide, up and down, and the roof projected about 
two feet from the frame of the building. 

Our Bridal Harness. — A respectable harness 
seemed indispensable. I had nothing but an old plow 
harness, and no money, or grain, fruit, or lumber, with 
which to purchase either leather or harness. My old- 
maid friend would, doubtless, have been glad to lend 
me more mone}' to buy a harness. But the thought 
of borrowing money to buy a harness, and continuing 
to pay interest on it, for five years, which I knew I 
must do before I could get my land into a condition to 
raise paying crops, made me recoil. My father had a 
silver-tipped harness, that had been badly used — torn 
to tatters by some one — and thrown aside as worthless. 
And yet only one trace was broken. The buckle- 
tongues were bent badly, and some were unlocked. I 
begged that old — yet almost new — harness of my 
father, who was glad to have it taken away; strait- 
ened the buckles myself, paid a harness-maker a cord 
of good wood for repairing it, washed it clean, oiled 
and varnished it; and the first Sunday that we went to 
meeting, with our new outfit, our good friends thought 
that silver-tipped harness, which was taken for a bran- 
new one, was a sure indication that I was transcending 
my pecuniary means, in a wrong direction, and some 
of the good brethren who were worth more dollars than 
our cents would number, thought, that if I could afford 
to have such a costly harness, surely I ought to pay 
more toward the salary of the minister. And even at 
that very time, I was paying interest on borrowed 
money for my annual subscription, which others, far 
better than myself, made me believe was my duty to 



HOW TO OIL A HARNESS. 297 

do ; and I was obliged to borrow money for our sub- 
scription to the minister's salary for six successive 
years, and pay interest on it, because others thought 
we rode in such style that we could aiford to pay more, 
and not feel it. 

A word about oiling and varnishing harnesses. Do 
not soak the leather in water, for a day or more. Wash 
it clean with warm soap-suds. Before the leather be- 
comes as dry as tinder, apply a bountiful coat of neats- 
foot oil. After the oil has dried in, varnish it. Make 
some shellac varnish, as directed, page 203, put about 
two large spoonfuls of fine lamp-black into a pint of 
varnish, and add also a piece of gum camphor, as large 
as a small hen's egg. Shake the contents thoroughly, 
and apply it with a small paint-brush. This varnish 
will dry quick, will shine like a glass bottle, and will 
not blacken your hands when handling the harness. 

How I GOT OUR Bridal Buggy. — The illustration 
of a light wagon, given in this connection, is a fair 
representation of our bridal buggy, and the economy 




BRIDAL BUGGY OF 1S44. 



exercised in obtaining it may aid other young men in 
such an enterprise. Heretofore, I had been accustomed 
to ride on horseback, or in the two-horse lumber wagon. 
But, now that I had found a wife, I wanted a buggy. 
But not one single dollar could either of us appropriate 



298 todd's country homes. 

for such a purpose. A decent one-horse wagon would 
cost, then, not less than $80. Now such an one would 
be worth $150. I had nothing to sell, for the crops of 
the previous season belonged to some one else. Well, 
I had purchased an old mare, at the suggestion of my 
father, for $5, as she was said to be a valuable brood 
mare. But, as we afterwards learned, she was too old 
to breed. Besides this, she was so incorrigibly balky 
that Rarey himself could not cure her of the vice. A 
neighbor, who had an old buggy that was worn out 
and thrown aside in the hen-roost, wanted that mare. 
He knew how balky she was better than I did. I had 
never put a harness on her, and he never proposed to 
harness her. But, as he afterwards told me, he thought 
he could make her raise colts. I looked at his old 
wagon, which was worth less to him than the mare 
was to me, and he examined ray old mare, which was 
a nuisance and an expense to me. The wheels were 
tolerably good, and I considered the springs to be 
worth 1 15. But the axle-trees and skeins were worn 
out. The body was all stove up, and daubed with 
domestic guano from one end to the other. Yet all 
the irons, besides the skeins, were as good as new. He 
happened to know that I paid only $5 for the beast. 
He valued the old buggy at $10. I proposed to give 
him the old mare for the wagon. He wanted ten 
bushels of Indian corn to boot. I agreed to give him 
five bushels, if he would wait till next autumn until I 
could raise it. So I took the old buggy home, and he 
took the old mare. But she never produced a colt. 
Well, I then went to work with unabated ambition to 
rejuvenate that old buggy, which had cost me $7.50, 



OUR BRIDAL BUGGY. 299 

with the determination to have a respectable vehicle 
that my proud wife would not be ashamed to ride in. 
I tore the old box to fragments, made two axle-trees, 
put on new skeins, made a new body, a new seat 
which was long enough for wife to hold a boy in her 
lap without being crowded, and I could hold a little 
urchin in my lap, also, and not be cramped for room, 
and yet there was space enough between us for a 
charming little girl. I procured a few yards of trim- 
ming cloth and a supply of carriage lace, trimmed the 
seat, made a nice cushion, painted the wagon with two 
heavy coats of paint, and applied two coats of varnish. 
To the crowd, the vehicle appeared like a first-class 
buggy. Everything was plain, but neat. One could 
see the color of his eyes in the varnish. The work was 
all (Jone on rainy days, when I could not work in the 
field. To complete the job, painting and all, required 
about five days, which other men would have squan- 
dered away at the post-office or public house. The 
blacksmith's bill was about $3.50. Paint and varnish 
cost about $4. Trimming materials, $3. These items 
swelled the cost of my bridal buggy to about $18, 
besides my five days' labor. The materials for axle- 
trees, thills and body were of little cash value, as I 
worked timber that had one wany edge, which was 
excellent, but which was not marketable. 

That is the way I obtained my bridal buggy. It was 
nice enough for a millionaire to ride in. Besides this, 
it was strong and convenient. If I wanted to carry a 
few bushels of wheat to mill, that biiggy was equal to 
the requirements of a strong, light wagon. When we 
went to the store to trade, we could put all our grocer- 



300 todd's country homes. 

ies behind, and before the seat, or beneath it, and still 
have a place for our feet. That wagon wore as satis- 
factorily, for twelve years, as a new buggy, that would 
have cost $80. I was obliged to borrow the money to 
pay my blacksmith's bill. But I paid it, after my first 
corn crop was marketed. The years rolled pleasantly 
on, and as each growing season came to an end, I could 
perceive that the fertility of my cultivable land was 
gradually improving. Every day, whether stormy or 
fair, was occupied in the most industrious manner. Not 
an hour was frittered away in idleness. Every leisure 
moment in the morning and at evening, was improved 
in reading some useful book, or in writing or drawing. 
Our Sleigh and Bridal Cutter. — It was not prac- 
ticable to get along without a lumber sleigh. But, a 
good set of traverse sleighs, such as I wanted, would 
cost thirty dollars. My father gave me his old worn- 
out sleigh, that he had used as long as I could remem- 
ber, which would scarcely sustain its own weight. So, 
I devised a plan for a new sleigh. I got permission to 
dig up a white oak tree for runners. I let the sawyer 
have half the runner-planks to pay for sawing. The 
owner of the tree must then have one-fourth of them 
for his tree. Then, I paid the blacksmith for the iron 
work in plank, and had enough left for my sleigh, which 
was made in a few days, ironed off, and painted. By 
this industrious system of management, I got a good 
strong sleigh, without money. But nothing looked so 
woe-begone and forlorn as a young married couple 
going to meeting in a huge lumber sleigh, and with an 
old plow harness. We were not ashamed of our vehi- 
cle, for it was neatly painted. Yet, pride or some other 



OUR SLEIGH AND BRIDAL CUTTER. 301 

spirit, prompted us to think that such a vehicle was not 
exactly the thing for a rich man's son to appear in, with 
a gay daughter of another well-to-do farmer. There- 
fore, we concluded that the next winter, we must have 
a cutter, by some means or other. My father had 




OUR BRIDAL CUTTER. 



money in the bank, and if he had given me ten acres 
of land, or no land at all and one thousand dollars, in- 
stead of simply giving me a half-deed as he did, so that 
I could have had something to begin with, how tran- 
scendently better it would have been for me, and no 
more disadvantageous for him. Well, we really needed 
a cutter. How to get one was the question. 

One of my neighbors, Jo Smith, who is dead and 
gone now, and whom I always accommodated in every 
way, by lending him any of my tools, had a cutter that 
was once a nice one. My friend Jo would sometimes 
pour out a blue streak of profanity, would spend much 
time at the hotel, and when he could not get snow, ice, 
or pure water to quench thirst, would taste of Old 
Bourbon. I always lent him my tools, because he was 
a good neighbor and accommodating. He always as- 
sured me, that it was bad enough to be obliged to bor- 



302 todd's country homes. 

row tools, without being required to take them home. 
And he always told me, that if I could not find my 
tools in the path leading from his house to his barn, 
when I came for them, he " couldn't tell me where to 
look for 'em." Well, Jo, in one of his jollifications, 
drove his fine cutter against the sign-post of the tav- 
ern, smashed the box into fragments, broke one run- 
ner, and every knee and beam. But the irons were all 
good as new. The fowls had roosted on it for several 
years until no one could determine the color of the 
paint. I proposed to purchase it. Said Mr. Smith 
(for he was not Jo at all times), "That cutter cost me 
$40 in cash. You see it is of no use to me now, only 
to aid the hens in getting on the roost. If you will 
come and sow my wheat, which you can do in one day, 
you may have that $40 cutter." I accepted his propo- 
sition ; took the demolished vehicle home (in Septem- 
ber), on a rainy day, dressed out such timber as was 
requisite for making the necessary repairs; put the 
dressed timber overhead in the kitchen to season for a 
month ; paid a blacksmith fifty cents for mending the 
broken runner, by riveting a plate of band iron on each 
side ; took oJQf the irons carefully, and put them on my 
new wood -work ; made a neat box ; painted and var- 
nished it ; and had it in running order before the sleigh- 
ing appeared. The paint, oil and varnish cost me about 
$1.50, and blacksmith's bill fifty cents. This is all the 
money that was employed in fitting up the bridal cut- 
ter, which was a respectable vehicle, that wealthy peo- 
ple would not be ashamed to ride in. There was one 
consideration about the matter, which is, I obtained it 
by my own frugality and persevering industry. I did 



HOW I PAID FOR MY WIFe's MUFF. 303 

not get it by hook and crook of dishonorable trade. 
,And over and above this, the vehicle was all paid for, 
before we took the first ride in it. It was np hill busi- 
ness/with us, from one year's end to another. But, 
by working hard and exercising all sorts of rigid econ- 
omy in every enterprise, we could perceive a small 
progress. 

How I PAID FOR MY "VVife's Muff. — It was a beau- 
tiful luxury. Our honest merchant purchased it at 
auction, at a very low figure, and to assure us that 
every word he uttered was reliable truth, he produced 
his bill of purchase, by which it appeared to our satis- 
faction that he had actually paid $11 for the forty- 
dollar muff! Then, he had paid the transportation on 
it, over three hundred miles, received nothing for his 
services in purchasing and selling, no interest on the 
money invested, but he would let us have it for %1\. 
Surely, we thought, there is a bargain for us, that we 
must not suffer to slip. Well, we had not a single dol- 
lar to appropriate to that purpose, without borrowing 
it. My old-maid friend would have cheerfully loaned 
the amount. But, we did not like the idea of paying 
interest on an article that my wife had always done 
without, and which could be dispensed with for a year 
or two longer. Well, we looked at the gewgaw, and 
thought how warm my wife's hands would be, when we 
took our three-mile ride to church, and how every one 
would admire such a beautiful "winter comfort." But, 
after all, we were forced to tell our obliging and gener- 
ous merchant, that we wanted it, but we had not the 
money to appropriate for such a purpose. He saw and 
appreciated the dilemma, and suggested that I might 



304 todd's countey homes. 

pay him in wood, at ^1.50 per cord, delivered at his 
store, which was over five miles from my woods. Here 
our prospects brightened. Seven and one-third cords 
of wood would pay the $11. But there was another, dif- 
ficulty. The chopper must have twenty-eight cents per 
cord for chopping the wood, if I corded it, and thirty- 
one cents, if he corded it. After a long consultation he 
suggested that he would pay my chopper out of his 
store, for cutting the wood, and that I could deliver 
him more wood, at $1.50 per cord, to cancel the chop- 
per s bill. 

Now, light broke in upon us. And we went home 
with buoyant feelings and cheerful hearts, at the con- 
templation of the economical purchase. Everybody 
seemed to be looking out of their windows to catch a 
peep at the beautiful muff. Then, when we went to 
church, didn't the people lift up their sleepy eyelids to 
get a more perfect view of that attractive feline skin ? 
''Ah," whispered our good deacon, " I think by another 
year, they can well afford to double their subscription 
for the minister's salary ! " On our way home, " Old 
Boreas" drew up his fiddle-strings to concert pitch and 
the cold snow creaked beneath our bridal cutter, but, 
with such a comfort as that beautiful muff before us, 
we bade defiance to the rigors of a northern winter, as we 
were g-lidino; homeward, breathino; the inanities of love. 
The first little household duplicate arrayed in a flowing 
robe of spotless Avhite, rarely receives more cheerful 
glances from soft eyes, than did that attractive muff. 
Well, on Monday morning, the great enterprise was 
commenced. The chopper engaged in his task, with a 
strong hand and a cheerful countenance. By working 



now I PAID FOR MY WIFE's MUFF. 305 

early and late he cut and split two cords per day, thus 
earning fifty-six cents, and boarded himself. That price 
was three cents more per cord than many of my neigh- 
bors would pay for chopping cord wood. I had agreed 
to deliver all hard wood, chiefly sugar maple and iron 
wood. I measured the wood on the sleigh, and thus 
saved three cents per cord. Such wood would sell 
readily, on the ground where it was chopped, for $1. 
per cord. Therefore, by hauling it over five miles, I 
earned fifty cents per cord. By rising at five o'clock 
in the morning, so as to do my chores early, and by 
getting an early breakfast, I could haul two loads per 
day of three-fourths of a cord each, thus earning — or 
rather saving with two horses and myself — seventy-five 
cents per day ! My own board and the feed of my team 
was an item that did not seem to enter into the ac- 
count. When the sleighing was not good, I could haul 
only half a cord per load. In that case I could earn 
only fifty cents per day, with myself and team. But, 
everything moved on so harmoniously, and I found so 
much pleasure in life, that the muff debt, and the chop- 
per's bill were liquidated, and I stood square with the 
merchant. The muff was paid for, without one dollar 
of money ! And many other articles were paid for in 
the same slow — but honest manner. While taking so 
many long sleigh rides, all alone in my glory, of course 
I had much time for reflection. And one mystery that 
I could never unravel was, how merchants could go to 
New York, at a great exj)ense, purchase goods, pay 
transportation on them, several hundred miles, sell them 
to their customers for the same they paid, and yet grow 
rich. But, after I came to the great metropolis, and 

20 



306 todd's country homes. 

began to peep into the honest tricks of honest traders, 
I soon perceived that it was easy for a seller to make 
his bills of sale, at a high price, deliver them to the 
purchaser, who according to previous stipulations, would 
pay the bills, less thirty to ffty per cent! But, unsus- 
pecting country squashes, as we were, never even 
dreamed that a purchaser would be allowed to pay any- 
thing less than the amount called for by the bill. This 
muff enterprise shows that beginners may have a very 
limited capital, and still live within their means. We 
paid for every article purchased, without mortgaging 
land or anything else. If my wife had not been thor- 
oughly versed in domestic economy, we might have 
been homeless in a few years. 

Saving Money in New Inventions. — Out of the 
thousands of new and patent devices, only a few — a 
vtery few — of the inventors have ever realized enough 
from the sales of territory, or shop rights, to cancel the 
expenses incurred in securing letters-patent and paying 
for advertisements. A few inventors have realized in- 
dependent fortunes for some minor device, which never 
cost much thought or money, while thousands of hard- 
working, thinking and industrious persons have worn 
themselves out, in vain efforts to bring out some new 
invention that would yield them some return for their 
toil ; and they have gone down into a poor man's grave, 
leaving scarcely enough behind to defray the expenses 
of a decent burial. 

The popular impression used to be, and it prevails 
more than it ought to now, that if a person is so for- 
tunate as to secure a patent on any device, he is elected 
to a fortune at once. Scores and hundreds of new in- 



SAVING MONEY IN NEW INVENTIONS. 307 

ventions which possessed no particular merit, have been 
brought out, patented and advertised for several succes- 
sive years, and then abandoned, because sensible peo- 
ple would not pay their money for an invention that 
did not promise them a full equivalent for their money. 
And a great many excellent things have been invented, 
which are useful, and always will be of great value to 
the world; but which have made no one rich. Young 
men in numerous instances have conceived something 
new, have been cajoled, wheedled, and bamboozled by 
shrewd patent agents, who have encouraged them to 
secure letters-patent through their agency, when the 
agents knew the inventors would never realize enough 
from sales of the device, to pay for the paper on which 
the application was written. Others have thought of 
some invention that has been common property among 
mechanics, for ages, and have secured letters-patent on 
it. But after dreaming of fortunes, they have opened 
their eyes to the startling consideration, that other 
inventors have thought of the same things, and have 
made models of the very same invention, tried to se- 
cure patents on them and failed, years ago. I desire 
to teach to every young man, that when people see a 
patent device advertised, they are not going to run after 
the inventor, and offer him money for his invention. 
Young men, old men, boys, girls and all! let me hold 
you by the button long enough to impress one idea on 
your minds, that men who have money, are not going to 
hand you a fortune in gold dollars, for some new device 
that will never he of any practical value to any one, for 
any purpose. 

Now, then, having blown off the superfluous gas, let 



308 todd's country homes. 

us come down to facts, figures and tangible objects, and 
learn how to save money by new inventions. In the 
first place, don't let your thoughts run off with your 
sleep, with your digestion, with your Sunday medita- 
tion, and with everything else, except the one idea, 
that, some how or other, the spirits, or some fallacious 
notion has told you that you are to bring out some 
great invention that is to revolutionize the world ! It 
is well to exercise your mechanical and inventive facul- 
ties. But, whenever you have been able to bring out 
any new device, communicate with some person who 
will be likely to understand — unless yon know your- 
self — exactly how such and such a thing would be likely 
to operate. Scores of young men have approached me 
in confidence — boiling over with enthusiasm at the 
conception of some idea that every skillful engineer un- 
derstands — and a few words of explanation have shown 
them in the most satisfactory manner, that such a de- 
vice never would be of any practical utility or value. 
These few words, w^hich I always gave cheerfully, 
gratuitously and honestly, have often saved thousands 
of dollars. On the contrary, I have in mind several 
knowing and enthusiastic young men who, not satisfied 
when I assured them they never could succeed, have 
persevered, till they have secured letters-patent, have 
advertised, spent a fortune in manufacturing articles 
of no practical value whatever, until they were obliged 
to abandon the enterprise as a failure. There can be 
nothing lost — but sometimes much advantage secured, 
by conferring with experienced mechanics and en- 
gineers. 

The first inquiry should be, after conceiving a new 



HOW TO GET A PATENT. 309 

device, to determine whether it will subserve the pur- 
pose for which it is intended, any more satisfactorily, 
than something similar, that may be in use. Do not 
pay out your money for a model, letters-patent, and 
drawings of a device, that has no merit but novelty to 
recommend it. Thousands of patents have been issued 
on articles that were not worth the value of one sheet of 
paper, and yet they possessed patentable features. The 
inventors thought, because the feature was patentable, 
it would pay well to secure letters-patent. Nothing is 
more absurd and erroneous. I have frequently con- 
ceived devices that were new and patentable. But, 
the practical question — will it pay to secure letters- 
patent — saved money, anxiety and perplexity, and se- 
cured enjoyment and sleep. 

How TO GET A Patent. — Of course "patent attor- 
neys" will hurl all sorts of javelins, hail-stones and coals 
of fire at me for penning this paragraph. Let 'em rage. 
Truth cuts keenest, when it cuts closest. Don't pay 
out your money to patent attorneys, unless you have 
lots of it. They will, no doubt, tell you that it is one 
of the most difficult things in the world to get an arti- 
cle patented! They will in most instances, represent 
that everything must be in just such language, and a 
slight deviation from that or this form in an application, 
would end in a rejection of your application. What 
superlative moonshine ! It is not so. And I can prove 
it to the satisfaction of every candid reader. The 
Commissioner of Patents is- assisted by the most skill- 
ful and competent men that can be obtained. Their 
business is to issue as many patents as they possibly 
can. They are not ambitious to find some feature in a 



310 todd's countet homes. 

device which will enable the department to reject the 
application. By no means. Nevertheless, this sugges- 
tion is held up to inventors, like a glaring bugbear, to 
induce them (the inventors) to employ patent agents 
to undertake to get the thing patented. The Commis- 
sioner and all his assistants are ambitious to grant a 
patent on every device that possesses a patentable fea- 
ture, from a wooden nutmeg to a locomotive. They 
know it is for their interest and for the interest of the 
public treasury to grant a patent on every device that 
can be patented with any shadow of consistency. A 
thousand things are patented, which they know will 
never be worth one red cent to any one. But the de- 
vice possesses novel and patentable features, and their 
duty to the Government, is to accept the fee, and grant 
the letters-patent. Here is where the trouble has 
always lain with applications that were rejected. Ap- 
plications have been made for patents which possessed 
no patentable feature, and which were a palpable in- 
fringement on the claim of some other inventor. It is 
hard to secure a patent, under such circumstances. All 
the strategy, and "wire-pulling" that experienced attor- 
neys possess, are requisite to secure a patent, when it 
is plain to the examiners that the device should not be 
patented. 

Get out the patent yourself, and save your money. 
You can do it just as well as a young man can write to 
his lady-love, and ask if, on some bright and starry 
night, he may sit in her shadow and look at the silver 
moon in the sky. The Commissioner is nothing but a 
plain, respectful engineer. You have only to make a 
model and write out, a clear and specific explanation 



HOW TO GET A PATENT. 311 

and description of your invention. Now, instead of. 
writing out all the specifications and explanations for 
an attorney to copy, and to charge you fifty or a hun- 
dred dollars for it, send your model and description 
directly to the Commissioner of Patents. (You should 
write to the Patent Office Department first, and request 
the Commissioner to forward a pamphlet containing 
rules to aid inventors in making their applications, 
which he will do cheerfully and free of charge. Such a 
pamphlet will tell you exactly what to do, and what 
not to do.) 

If you were to send your model to an attorney, you 
would forward also, a written description of your de- 
vice. That is exactly what the Commissioner wants ; 
no more and no less. If you, or any one else, can ex- 
plain in a clear and intelligible manner the nature of 
your invention, the Commissioner will grant you let- 
ters-patent just as quickly, and just as correctly, as he 
would do it, were the application made by the most 
notable attorney in the land. Instead of paying an 
attorney five times as much for a draft of the device as 
it is really worth, look around and find some skillful 
draftsman who will make a satisfactory draft of the de- 
vice, unless the parts are numerous and the combina- 
tion intricate. In such a case, have a photograph 
taken, from which any ordinary draftsman, or drafts- 
woman, would be able to make a drawing sufficiently 
accurate for all practical purposes, at a great saving of 
money. But, before attempting to take out letters- 
patent, make a full-sized model, and put the device 
to a practical test. A little brass model may operate 
like a charm, and all who see it, will be likely to de- 



312 todd's country homes. 

clare at once, that a working model cannot foil to oper- 
ate satisflxc to rily. And yet, when a full-sized machine 
comes to be made, some part of it cannot be made to 
work at all. 

If you are at all inclined to cherish the idea, that 
somehow or other, you are going to be made rich by 
some new invention — if you dream of a fortune from 
the sale of territory — the best thing you can do, will 
be to go to the patent office, and examine the thou- 
sand and ten models that have been rejected, some of 
which may be similar to your device for gaining a for- 
tune. If you are as poor as inventors usually are, bor- 
row money enough to take you to Washington and 
back. I think such money will be satisfactorily expen- 
ded. The journey may open your eyes, so that you 
can see, if you ever get a fortune, it must be gained 
in some other way. Then, you would come home con- 
tented, and begin to live to some accoiint. Save your 
money. Don't pay it out for advertising a device that 
people know nothing about. 

Care and Management of Shoes. — It is a sweep- 
ing assertion, but I do not hesitate to make it, that 
more shoes are destroyed by bad management than are 
actually worn out by fair usage. When leather is 
wetted and dried repeatedly, it shrinks and becomes 
hard and unpliable. For this reason, the soles of boots 
and shoes, after having been exposed to the influences 
of "wet and dry," become shorter and narrower, and 
the upper leather becomes smaller, and so hard that it 
frequently cracks, or becomes painful to the feet. 
_ The first thing to be done to a pair of new boots or 
shoes, is to apply a bountiful coat of coal tar or pine 



CARE OF SHOES. 313 

tar, to the soles, and dry it in. Tar will effectually 
exclude the water and prevent the pegs from shrinking 
and working out ; and it will also make the soles wear 
like iron. After the tar has been well dried into the 
leather, there is no danger that it will ever work out. 
The aim should always be to keep the upper leather 
soft and pliable, and the soles hard, tough, and imper- 
vious to w^ater. The better way to treat light sewed 
shoes and boots is, to set each one on a platter or an 
old dinner-plate, and pour on boiled linseed oil, suf- 
ficient to fill the vessel to the upper edge of the soles. 
Allow the leather to absorb as much oil as it will for 
eight hours. Linseed oil should not be applied to the 
upper leather, as it will soon become dry, rendering 
the leather hard and tough. If the shoes be sewed, 
the linseed oil will preserve the thread from rotting. 
Now wet the upper leather thoroughly when the boots 
or shoes are to be put on the feet, so that those parts 
which are tight may stretch a trifle, and thus adapt the 
form of the shoe to the foot far more satisfactorily than 
when the upper leather is not wet. Keep them on the 
feet until the leather is nearly dry. Then give the 
upper leather a thorough greasing with equal parts of 
lard and tallow, or with tallow and neats-foot oil. If 
shoes be treated in this manner, and a row of round- 
headed shoe nails be driven around the edge of the 
soles, they will w^ear like copper, and always set easy 
to the feet. Boots and shoes should be treated as sug- 
gested, and worn a little, several months, before they 
are to be put to daily service. This is the true way to 
save your shoe money. 

The injury to shoes by allowing them to stand and 



314 todd's country homes. 

dry, after they have been worn, when the leather has 
become wet and muddy, is often so great as to render 
them unfit for service. Let the mud be washed off, at 
once. Then, the shoes should always be dried while 
on the feet. As soon as the surface is dry, apply a lit- 
tle grease, which will prevent shrinkage and always 
keep the leather soft. 

People in the rural districts usually keep their boots 
and shoes on the floor in a cold corner of the room. 
Of course, they are always complaining of cold feet. 
My own practice was, when on the farm, to have a 
shelf in the kitchen, as high as a person could reach, 
for boots and shoes, where they would always be kept 
warm. When boots could not be placed on the shelf, 
they were hung on a hook, at the upper part of the 
room, where the air is warm ; while near the floor, it 
is cold. 

Black your own Boots. — If you are in the pos- 
session of a comfortable home, with satisfactory sur- 
roundings, and have so much money that you like to 
cultivate a feeling of benevolence by handing out youv 
dimes to poor boot-blacks, I have no particular objec- 
tions to it, except that the example may induce others 
who ought to wait on themselves, to fritter away their 
money, when they need it for their own personal com- 
fort. A man can black his own boots, quite as soon as 
a boot-black. He must, therefore, be idle while the 
job is being done. Consequently, there is the loss of 
time incurred, besides the dime for doing the job. It 
is all proper and right, that boots and shoes should be 
neatly blacked. But, let a man who desires to save 
money, do it himself Two boxes of blacking will last 



CARE OF BOOTS AND SHOES. 315 

one person a year, or more, when he blacks his shoes 
daily. The price of those may be computed at one 
dime each. Boot-blacks usually require ten cents for 
"giving a good shine," which will amount to the nice 
little sum of $36.50, in a single year! All of which 
may be saved, excejDt twenty cents for blacking, and 
thirty cents for a shoe-brush. By making an estimate 
it will be perceived how easily a young man may save 
hundreds of dollars, in ten years, by simply waiting on 
himself The country needs the labor of boot-blacks. 
Our cities do not need such croaking parasites. 

Shoes to Fit the Feet. — There is a vast deal of 
stupidity among people with regard to the adaptation of 
shoes and boots, to one's feet. The assumption is, that 
the lasts on which shoes are made, must of necessity, 
be of the correct form. Therefore, if the shoes do not 
fit the feet, the difficulty is not in the lasts, but in the 
form of the/ee^. There is quite as much difference in 
the form of feet, as in the different forms of bodies, 
and human faces. Some persons tread the heels over, 
either outward or inward, and they are sharjoly re- 
proached for not treading squarely on their feet. The 
difficulty is, not in the manner of stepping, but in the 
form of the shoes. The lasts were not like the feet. 
When shoes or boots are made on lasts no more crooked 
or straight than the feet, they will set very satisfac- 
torily, and the soles will not wear off on one side. When 
shoes are either more straight or more crooked than 
one's feet, they cannot be expected to set easy, as the 
feet must be turned and pressed from their natural po- 
sition. When shoes or boots will run over, outward, 
at the heel, a piece of thick sole leather should be 



316 todd's country homes. 

nailed -to the outside of the last, to make it more of 
the form of the foot. Then, if the toe of the sole 
wears off on the inside, more than on the outside, let 
a thick piece of sole leather be pegged to the inside of 
the last, near the toe, so as to make the last about as 
crooked as the foot. If a person has tender feet, a 
very wide sole will not make an easy fitting shoe, un- 
less the last was thick up and down, near the toes. It 
is far better to have a shoe made over a thick last, but 
rather narrow, than over a broad and thin last. When 
one has tender feet, he should have a pair of lasts 
made as nearly of the form of his feet as they can be. 
Then, boots, or shoes will always set comfortably to the 
feet; and more than this, the soles will wear evenly. 
If shoes were made over a last of the same form of the 
feet, they would never run over either way. 

Remedy for Cold Feet. — When a person has not 
sufficient vitality to keep his feet warm, he should em- 
ploy some artificial heat. In many instances, leather 
shoes fit the feet so tightly, as to obstruct circulation 
of the blood. Then, the feet will often become very 
cold. Whereas, if shoes had been of fair size, the feet 
would have kept warm. In many instances, when I 
have been riding in cold weather, for several hours, I 
have slipped off my boots, and wrapped my feet in a 
horse blanket. In this way, I never failed to keep 
them comfortable. If shoes fit closely, it will be very 
difficult to keep the feet warm, even when the weather 
is not very cold. When one's vitality and animal heat 
are at a low ebb, he must warm his feet. It is stupid 
folly to endure pain and suffering, from the cold, when 
there is not life enough in one's system to keep every 



REMEDY FOR COLD FEET. 317 

part warm. On the contrary, if a person is indolent, 
and does not exercise enough to wake up his system, 
the better way will be to go out in the oj^en air, and 
run, or walk, or work, until every part of the body 
glows with health. I have often run barefooted in 
the soft snow, for a few minutes, until every vein in 
my feet would be filled with blood. When there was 
no snow, I have held them under a spout of cold water, 
until they would look as red as the feet of a- goose. 
Then, they would keep warm all night. I never took 
cold in the operation. When a person is annoyed with 
cold feet out of doors, take off the stockings, hold the 
feet to the fire, nntil they are thoroughly dry and 
warm. Then, put on the stockings, dry out all the 
moisture before the boots or shoes are put on, and the 
feet will continue warm, for a long time. In some in- 
stances, if I have been writing for several hours, during 
very cold weather, I find it necessary to have a piece 
of soap-stone, or marble beneath my feet, for an hour 
or more. And rather than lie in bed with cold feet, I 
have a "Major" at the foot of the bed. No one can 
sleep well with cold feet. And when the vitality has 
been used up in writing, it is better to warm the feet, 
than to wait and suffer with cold, a long time, before 
nature can get up enough heat to warm every part of 
the system. When digestion is sharp, if one will eat a 
liberal supply of nourishing food, he will not suffer 
with cold feet. On the contrary, if digestion be lan- 
guid, a large quantity of the richest food will fail to 
maintain a proper degree of warmth at all the extrem- 
ities. After one has washed his feet in warm water, 
he should always bathe them in cold water. Then, 



318 todd's countky homes. 

wipe them dry, and warm them before a glowing fire, 
until they feel quite comfortable. Woolen stockings 
are indispensable if one desires to keep the feet com- 
fortably warm. A person who has a vast deal of vital- 
ity may prefer cotton. But, cotton will not keep the 
feet of most people comfortable, even in cool weather. 
There is no use in stating that cotton is preferable to 
wool. He who is troubled with cold feet, when he 
wears cotton, may put on woolen stockings, and be 
cheered with warm feet. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ICE AND ICE-HOUSES. 

Construction of Ice-houses — Plan of Ice-house — How to Build — How 
to Fill with Ice — Saving Ice without a House — Home-made Ice — Un- 
der-ground Ice-houses — How to Fill with Water. 

CONSTRUCTION OF ICE-HOUSES. 

When I lived in the country, I knew of only one 
person within five miles of my residence, who had an 
ice-house ; not that an ice-house and ice were so ex- 
pensive, but the farmers lacked sufficient skill to con- 
struct an ice-house, in such a manner, as to save it 
through the hot weather. When a person is about to 
erect an ice-house, he should first obtain a correct un- 
derstanding of what to do, and how to do it. As has 
already been hinted there are several important points 
to be observed in building an ice-house, which are com- 
plete drainage, perfect ventilation of the building above 
the ice, and walls that will conduct little or no heat 
through to the ice. If an ice-house were so constructed 
that the walls were complete non-conductors, with 
perfect ventilation between the surface of the ice and 
the roof of the building, and the floor were resting on 
the ground, the heat from the earth would soon melt 
the last cake, long before the sultry days of July had 
passed. If every part of the house were constructed 



320 todd's country homes. 

properly, and the roof were so leaky as to permit rain 
to fall on the ice, a large mass would soon be melted. 

Balloon Frame of an Ice-house. — The accom- 
panying sketch will convey a fair idea of the proper 
construction of the frame of the superstructure, accord- 




BALLOON SKELETON OF ICE-HOUSE. 



ing to the balloon style of architecture. It will be seen 
that a portion of the outside range of studs is shown, 
nailed to the sill, and also a portion of the inside lining 
boards. Also, one plate is represented as resting on the 
upper ends of the studs. Two collar beams are also 
shown nailed to the rafters. Other portions will require 
no written explanation. It will be perceived that there 
will be a space between the outside weather boards and 
the lining on the inside of the outer studs, which should 
be filled with some kind of non-conducting material, 
that may be put in and pressed down tightly as fast as 
the outside boards are nailed on. 

A Bill of Materials. — A superstructure 16 by 12 
feet square w-ill be sufficiently large to contain a supply 
of ice for several families during the entire year. The 



BALLOON FRAME OF AN ICE-HOUSE. 321 

sides should be about twelve feet high, and the roof 
should project not less than two feet on every side. A 
good shingle roof, painted white, will be found cheaper 
and more satisfactory than a roof made of any other 
material. A white roof will reflect the heat of the sun 
much more than if the same roof were of a darker 
color. Then, if there is economy in painting any part 
of a building, the roof surely should be painted. It is 
proposed to erect a "balloon" frame, as such a frame 
will be less expensive, than one made of large timber 
with tenons and mortises ; and the superstructure will 
also be much stiflfer. Such a frame will require : 

Sq.ft. 

2 side sills, 2 by 8, 16 feet long, 43 

2 end sills, 2 by 8, 12 feet long, 32 

2 plates, 2 by 4, 16 feet long, 22 

11 joists, 16 inches apart, 2 by 8, 12 feet long, for floor, 176 

72 studs, 2 by 4, 12 feet long, 576 
11 collar-beams, 1|^ by 4, 12 feet long, to be nailed from the foot 

of one rafter to another, 65 

22 rafters, 2 by 4, 10 feet long, 147 

Roof boards, floor and lining, or sheeting boards, 1,700 

Amount of common lumber, 

Computed at $2.50 per one hundred feet, the amount will be, 

4,000 shingles, at $4 per 1,000, 

20 lbs. shingle-nails, at 5 cents, 

50 lbs. of ten-penny nails, 

15 lbs. eight-penny nails, 

1,000, feet of one-inch siding, planed on one side, at 3 cents per foot, 30 00 

150 feet for doors, casings, verge-boards, corner-boards, facia, and 

ridge-boards, 
2 pairs of door-hinges, and two handles, latches and screws, 
5 gallons of linseed oil, 
50 lbs. of white lead, at 12^ cents per lb., 

Amount carried forward, $135 97 

21 



2,751 


$68 87 


16 


00 


1 


00 


2 


50 




85 


1,30 


00 


1 
4 


50 




50 


5 


50 


6 


25 



$135 97 


7 


50 


18 


00 


9 


00 


5 


00 


3 


00 



322 todd's countky homes. 

Amount brought forward, 
2^ days' painting, at $3 per day, 
Joiners' work, 6 days, at $3 per day, 
Helper, at $1.50 per day, 6 days, 
2 barrels of cement, at $2.50 per barrel, 
Mason work and tender, half a day. 

Cash cost, $178 47 

Erecting the Superstructure. — After the founda- 
tion is completed, let the sills be halved together at the 
corners, and thoroughly smeared on every side, and in 
every joint, with a heavy coat of coal tar. Fasten the 
corners with eight-penny nails. Now put the floor 
joists in their places, with the ends resting entirely 
across the top of the sills. The ends of the joists 
should be sawed off square, just twelve feet long, and 
secured to the sills by "toeing in" the nails, with the 
ends flush with the outer edge of the sills. Every 
part should be daubed with coal tar, a thick coat of 
which should be applied to the lower ends of the studs, 
and every piece of timber near the foundation. The 
very ends and every joint should be so heavily smeared 
as to exclude the water, which will often drip down on 
the timbers, and hasten their decay, in a few years. 
But fifty cents' worth of tar, properly applied, will 
keep every stick sound for an age. The spaces be- 
tween the joists at the ends, between the sills and the 
floor, should now be filled with bricks, or pieces of 
stone and mortar, even with the upper edge of the 
joists. It would be -well, also, to support each joist at 
the middle, with a pier of brick, or stone, as the super- 
incumbent pressure, when the building is full of ice, 
will be too great for the strength of such a system of 
joists as I have indicated. 



ERECTING THE SJJPEESTRUCTURE. 323 

Now let the floor be laid, and sawed off even with 
the outer edge of the sills. Rough, unplaned and 
knotty boards will answer for a floor, as it is not neces- 
sary to have the edges well matched. Next, saw oflf 
the ends of twenty-two studs, two by four, making them 
exactly eleven feet and six inches long, for the outside 
course. Plumb one at each corner, and fasten each one 
wdth two stale afts. Let the intermediate studs be set 
up, on the surface of the floor, directly over the joists 
or sleepers and the lower ends secured by toeing in the 
nails. Now nail on the lining or sheeting boards to 
the inside of the studs, and set up the end studs of the 
building, and cover the inside of these also with sheet- 
ing, making a doorway at the middle of one end of the 
building. The inside sheeting may consist of "cull 
boards," of variable widths. A space should be left 
below the plate, on both sides of the building, six 
inches wide, for the purpose of complete ventilation. 
The studs at the two ends of the building should ex- 
tend to the rafters. Let the plates now be nailed to 
the upper ends of the side studs, and let the rafters be 
set up. The foot of each rafter should rest on the 
plate directly over the stud beneath it. The collar 
beams should next be nailed firmly to the foot of the 
rafters, to keep the sides of the building from being 
thrust outward, and also for holding the upper ends of 
the inside course of studs, which are to be set up about 
one foot from the outside course, nailed firmly at the 
lower ends to the floor, and to the collar beams at the 
upper ends. The inside course of studs should be 
twelve feet long, in order to reach the collar beams. 
The space between the two ranges of studs, after both 



324 todd's coui^trt homes. 

are lined, is to be filled with sawdust, turners' chips, 
tan-bark, fine charcoal, or wheat chaff, well trod down. 
The filling should be put in as the lining on the inside 
studs is nailed on. There should be two doors fitted to 
the lower doorway, hung on hinges, and both open- 
ing outward. The inner door, of course, must swing 
against the jamb casing. 

• Saying Ice without a House. ^Several Western 
correspondents have described a very cheap mode of 
keeping ice without any house, except a roof that will 
not leak. Four posts are set in the ground, about 
twelve feet apart, for supporting a roof, like the roof 
of a hay barrack, twelve feet square. The roof may 
be made of shingles, plastic-slate, or thatch. The roof 
will constitute the principal expense. Then, a founda- 
tion is made of rails, or poles laid crossways, which 
are then covered with straw, two feet thick. Then 
layer after layer of ice is piled up, kept in place by 
stakes and boards. When the pile is completed straw 
is stamped down around it, and a wall built probably 
six or eight feet thick. The ice, it is stated, will keep 
well through the summer. All the conditions of a good 
ice-house are met — drainage, non-conducting walls, 
and a slight degree of ventilation, or rather a change 
of air through diffusion. In whatever way we meet 
these conditions we shall succeed in keeping ice. The 
most successful packers put a very thick mass of straw 
at the bottom of their ice. The only apprehension I 
entertain in regard to such a mode of keeping ice is, 
the drainage will not be attended to, or the roof will 
leak, or the sides will not be properly protected. Then, 
how is one to get at the ice, from day to day? As 



HOW TO CONSTRUCT A LOG ICE-HOUSE. 325 

soon as an opening is made oii one side, the ice will 
waste away rapidly, as it will be difficult to close the 
passage so as to exclude fresh air and heat. 

Home-made Ice. — In many localities, there is not 
even a small stream of water that may be dammed for 
the purpose of making an ice-pond in cold weather, 
within a distance of several miles. And even then, 
those persons who might desire to have a supj)ly of 
ice, might not be allowed the privilege of damming 
the water. When water can be obtained from no 
other source than from a well, set some boards on edge, 
on a grass-plot, before snow has fallen, and before the 
ground has frozen, enclosing a level plot, say sixteen 
feet by thirty -two. Then, as soon as the ground has 
become frozen, and there is a sprinkling of snow, let 
water be pumped into the enclosure sufficient to cover 
the surface of the ground, and let it freeze. Collect 
a bushel or two of wet snow to pack along the lower 
edge of the boards, and at the corners. Wet it, and 
allow it to freeze, to render the reservoir water-tight. 
In cold weather, ice could be made almost as fast as 
the water could be drawn from a well. As soon as a 
layer has been formed, cut a strip out of the middle, 
so as not to disturb the side boards, remove the ice, 
and proceed to make another batch. In case the level 
plot were several yards from the well, the water could 
be conducted in open board leaders, to the distance of 
a hundred feet. After the grass has all been removed 
with the ice, let a thin layer of clean hay, or straw be 
spread over the ground, to prevent the ice from adher- 
ing to the surface of the ground. 

How TO Construct a I^og Ice-house. — Wherever 



326 todd's countey homes. 

one can have access to the north side of a hill — the 
steeper the better — an ice-house may be made very 
much cheaper than to construct it of sawed timber and 
boards above ground, by excavating a square hole of 
the desired dimensions, and walling up the sides with 
logs, or large and strong slabs. In some sections of 
the country, where the earth is so porous that cellars 
do not require draining, an ice-house is made in the 
same manner, where the ground is level. The logs 
may by fitted at the corners like the corners of a log- 
house. It will be just as well, however, to miter the 
ends, to prevent their falling inwards. A steep roof 
may be made with round poles for rafters, having nar- 
row strips running across the rafters, about one foot 
apart, which may be covered with long straw, making 
a thatched roof The sides should extend about two 
feet above the surface of the ground ; and suitable eave- 
troughs should be provided to carry all the water sev- 
eral yards from the ice-house. To prevent mice from 
working in the thatch, every corner of the straw should 
be smeared with warm and thin tar, so that it will run 
down among the straw, and render it so repulsive, that 
mice and vermin of any kind will seek a refuge some- 
where else. A liberal supply of straw is placed on the 
inside between the logs and the ice, and also on the 
bottom and top. This is a common practice of build- 
ing ice-houses at the "West. And it is stated by those 
who secure ice in them, that ice will keep satisfactorily 
during the entire season. Such a house ten feet square 
in the clear, would be sufficiently capacious for a large 
family. Such a structure can be built with a very small 
amount of labor and money. 



AN UNDER-GROUND ICE-HOUSE. 327 

An Under-ground Ice-house. — The neatest and best 
ice-house that I ever have met with, was built by a 
friend of mine, in New Castle, N. Y., in the abutment 
of his barn. (See abutment in glossary, and how to 
make the arch for an ice-house, in such a place.) He 
assures me that it is a satisfactory success. It is entirely 
beneath the surface of the ground. Its dimensions are 
fourteen feet square, from wall to wall, and twelve 
feet high. The walls are stone. There is a partition 
of chestnut boards, six inches from the walls, and the 
space between, is filled with sawdust. The ice is not 
packed close to this partition, but a space of six inches 
is left all around, which is filled with sawTlust, as each 
layer of ice is put in. The bottom of the ice-house is 
grouted and cemented. The surface slopes to the cen- 
ter, about six inches, where a lead tube is sunk in. the 
cement, from whence a lead pipe, bent in the form of a 
syphon, drains the water off. About nine inches above 
the center of the cement floor, is another floor of rough 
boards, on which is a covering of straw of four inches, 
and on the straw is a layer of sawdust four inches 
deep. The ice is placed directly on this sawdust. The 
ventilation is through the door, about one foot below 
the highest point of the arch. The size of the venti- 
lator is nine by fifteen. There is no double door to the 
vault proper, but the entrance is through a "cool-room," 
which is doubly enclosed and filled in. The door of 
this cool-room has a ventilator like that in the vault. 



CHAPTEE X. 

GENEKAL FARMING OPERATIONS. 

Large vs. Small Farms — Outfit of a Small Farm — Learning to be a 
Farmer — A Renovating System — Under-draining — Thorough Tillage — 
How to Plow Deep — Rotation — Beef, Pork and Mutton — Manure — 
Culture of Wheat — Barley — Oats — Rye — Clover — How to Cultivate 
them Successfully — Making Malt. 

" The sire of gods and men, with hard decrees, 

Forbids our plenty to be bought with ease ; 

And wjf's, that mortal man, inured to toil. 

Should exercise with pains, the grudging soil." — Drtden's Virgil. 

Large versus Small Farms. — We read that five 
acres are enough ; ten acres enough ; fifty acres enough ; 
and one hundred acres enough, or too much, just as the 
case may be. In one sense, such suggestions are stupid 
nonsense. In another, they are sound sense. One 
acre is enough for some men ; because they will not 
half cultivate that small amount. And, for many 
farmers, one hundred acres are not enough. If a man 
has a capacity for a thorough-going and progressive 
farmer, one hundred acres is scarcely sufficient for him. 
There is no danger of having farms too large, provided 
the land is thoroughly cultivated. When a man has" 
five acres of land, and there are nooks here and strips 
there which are not properly cultivated, five acres are 
too much for him. A mere potato patch will not sub- 
serve the purposes of a progressive farmer. He must 



LARGE VERSUS SMALL FARMS. 329 

have breadth of land, according to his operations. 
There must be grass land, grain land, and several acres 
appropriated to fruit. I would not like to undertake 
farming again on less than one hundred acres. And 
if I were going to farm for profit, I would sooner have 
more than one hundred acres than less. The great 
trouble with American farmers is, they purchase more 
land than they have means and capacity to cultivate in 
a farmer-like and thorough manner. The first ques- 
tion to be settled satisfactorily, when one is about to 
engage in agricultural operations, is, how much land 
can I manage with the means in my possession, culti- 
vating every acre in the best manner ? A farmer can- 
not manage a farm without capital. It will be the 
hight of folly for him to invest most of his cash in land, 
leaving half enough for working capital. If a man has 
not money, he will find all his operations cramped ; his 
improvements half completed, or not commenced ; his 
soil not half renovated ; and everything will move 
slowly and v^ry dissatisfactorily. The true way for a 
beginner to do is, to first count the cost, and make an 
estimate of his available means. A good team and a 
full set of farm implements will be required on twenty 
acres. The same appliances will be needed on a farm 
of fifty, or of one hundred acres. Consequently, if a 
man has the capacity to manage a farm of one hundred 
acres, the expenses on a large farm will be proportion- 
ally less than on a small one. If a man has means to 
purchase one hundred acres, I would say, pay for fifty 
acres, run in debt for the remainder, and employ an 
abundance of capital to work with. Such a debt will 
be an advantage to most men, as it will stimulate them 



330 todd's countky homes. 

to carry out improvements and to practice economy. 
But avoid small debts. They are the bane of a man's 
happiness. A man should not attempt to engage in 
aoricultural operations until he is in possession of suf- 
ficient means to perform whatever needs to be done, in 
a proper manner and at the most desirable period in 
the growing season. 
The Outfit of a Small Farm. — 

" a pitchfork, a dungfork, a sieve, skep and bin ; 
A broom and a pail to put water therein ; 
A hand-barrow, wheel-barrow, shovel and spade, 
A curry-comb, mane-comb, and whip for a jade." — Tom Tusser. 

In order to give beginners a rough estimate touching 
the necessary appliances of even a small farm, I here- 
with indicate about what will be required. In many 
sections of the country, some of the following articles 
may be obtained for less than I have indicated. 
A span of horses and harness, $300 
Lumber wagon, 1^" 
One plow, ^^ 
One harrow, .^^ 
Land roller, ^ ^^ 
Grain drill and seed sower, 80 
Mower and reaper, 130 
Two shovels, a spade and fork, 5 
Crowbar, pick and ax, ' 
Hay-forks, rake, cradles and scythes, 20 
Horse-rake (revolving,) ^ 
Hand-hoes and potato digger, 12 
Horse-hoe, . 
Light wagon, $150, buggy, $100, 250 
Light harness, horse blankets, etc., 50 
Saws, brace and bits, and other edge tools, 20 
Fodder cutter, 25 
Fanning-mill, 30 

Amount carried forward, $1,166 



LEAENING TO BE A FARMER. 331 



Amount brought forward, 


$1,166 


Scoop shovel, grain measures, bags and sieve, 


20 


Lumber sleigh, 


30 


Appliances not enumerated, 


20 


Aggregate amount, 


$1,236 



There will be many other articles required which 
will cost money. I have not enumerated a cow, 
pigs, poultry, water-pails, grindstone and many kinds 
of machinery which a farmer really needs. But, an 
intelligent beginner will be able, with these sugges- 
tions, to make a more complete list. Over and above 
the money required for the foregoing articles, a great 
many dollars will be required to defray the small daily 
expenses. 

Learning to be a Farmer. — Many young men 
commence farming operations with no more of a cor- 
rect understanding of the requirements of the farm 
and the farmer than a young backwoods gardener pos- 
sesses of business tact, skill and experience requisite to 
manage a large dry-goods store in a populous city. 
The never-ending drudgery, the endless details and 
ever-changing operations connected with the cultiva- 
tion of the soil, even on a small farm, have never made 
the first impressions on many beginners, until they 
have really commenced exercising themselves in plan- 
ning and trying to execute. The details of agriculture 
are so numerous and varied that a young man needs 
the advantage of several years' practice, with an in- 
telligent tiller of the soil, who understands how to man- 
age every department with satisfactory skill. Many 
young men make a serious mistake in attempting to 
supervise the operations of a farm before they have 



332 todd's countky homes. 

any correct conceptions of the business. There is 
science in everything connected with the farm. When 
a young man is about to commence any enterprise on 
the farm, whether it be raising stock or growing grain, 
it i| highly important that he should have such an un- 
derstanding of his business that, so far as human agency 
is concerned, his arrangements will not prove to be 
failures. 

The question then arises, what can be done to enable 
the enthusiastic beginner to commence right? We 
answer : He must first serve a faithful apprenticeship 
with some thorough-going, practical man, who will im- 
part the desired instruction to a beginner, and thus en- 
able him to obtain a fair idea of the details of the 
business in which he is about to engage. If a young 
man does not understand how to handle farm imple- 
ments and tools, the very best course he can pursue 
will be to serve an entire season with a farmer who can 
and will teach him how to handle a plow, horse, hoe, 
mower, scythe, fork and cradle as skillfully as a good 
chopper can swing his ax. One year served in this 
manner will be of incalculable value to a beginner, as 
a farmer must be familiar with the use of tools, or he 
can never succeed in his employment. Young men 
who are engaged in other professions, are required to 
learn the trade, before they can expect to ^ supervise 
any employment. No other occupation needs a more 
thorough preparation, than the profession of farming. 
Boys and young men, are required to labor for several 
years, receiving a compensation by no means sufficient 
to pay their board. If farmers were trained in this 
manner, our country would be the glory of the earth. 



EENOVATING THE SOIL. 333 

in horticultural and agricultural beauty. But, owing 
to the perfunctory manner of not training young farm- 
ers, our agriculture and horticulture seem like dis- 
figuring blotches — a reproach to such a nation and 
government as ours. 

A Renovating System. — When a person commences 
agricultural or horticultural operations, his highest aim 
should be to maintain the fertility of his land, whether 
he produces fair crops or not. The operation will 
necessarily involve rearing and feeding of mutton sheep 
or beef cattle, or both, thus consuming the larger pro- 
portion of the products of the farm, and returning to 
the hungry soil, in the form of excellent manure, a fair 
equivalent for the crops removed. It is a noble em- 
ployment to inaugurate and to carry out such a system 
of farm management as will make two kernels of grain 
grow where now we see but one, and two spires of grass, 
or two tons of superior hay, where only one has ap- 
peared from year to year. The task is eminently prac- 
ticable. No more teams for labor will be required to 
accomplish a result so transcendently desirable. The 
Great Creator requires restitution to the impoverished 
soil, in the form of fertilizers, which shall be a fair 
equivalent for the bountiful crops which have been 
removed from year to year. Our young farmers should 
aim to shun this unwise and ruinous system of man- 
agement, by commencing at once a renovating system 
of agriculture in the cultivation of the soil. Retro- 
gressive agriculture was an illustrious error of many of 
our fathers. But, for want of a progressive system of 
agriculture, the fertility of the virgin soil soon became 
almost barren. This is the great fault of American 



334 todd's countey homes. 

agriculture, more particularly in Western and Southern 
States. The fertile prairies of Illinois and other local- 
ities seldom yield as bountiful crops, after having been 
cultivated a few seasons, as were grown during the 
first few seasons after the soil was broken up. And the 
same is true of the land in the best wheat-growing re- 
gions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other 
wheat districts. In some instances, the failure is at- 
tributable to local causes, such as an excess of water in 
the soil. Yet, as a general rule, the prime and funda- 
mental cause is to be found in the system of manage- 
ment, which is retrogressive, instead of progressive. 
Our most productive soils, by an injudicious system of 
management, may be depleted in a few seasons to such 
an extent that they will not yield crops of sufficient 
value to cancel the expense of cultivation. But, by 
proper cultivation, crops may be produced, every sea- 
son, a little more abundant, until the highest maxi- 
mum product has been reached. 
Undee-deaining wet land. — 

" Each bog and marsh industriously drain, 
I Nor let vile bogs deface the beauteous plain." 

When to drain land, and when not to drain it can be 
determined only by the careful observation of a person 
who possesses extensive experience in this matter. In 
numerous instances, nature has made all necessary pro- 
visions for conveying away the surplus water at all sea- 
sons of the year. On the contrary, where the subsoil is 
so compact that the pores of the surface soil will continue 
filled with water for several days after a heavy rain, the 
evidence will be conclusive that a regular system of 
under- draining would be a valuable improvement in the 
management of that land. When cultivable fields seem 



UNDER-DRAINING WET LAND. 335 

to be a long time in becoming sufficiently dry to plow, 
or to be worked, it is a certain evidence that the soil 
can never be cultivated with satisfactory profit until all 
the surplus water can be readily collected and conveyed 
away in under-drains. There need be no apprehen- 
sions that any injury will ever arise in consequence of 
making a drain where one was not needed, as no drain 
can draw away any water from the surface soil that is 
really required to promote the growth of plants. The 
soil will retain, by capillary attraction, all the moisture 
that the roots of plants require, were under-drains made 
ten feet apart, over the entire field. When water will 
stand in depressions so long, that it drowns the soil by 
saturating every particle so thoroughly that the parts 
flow together like mortar, under-drains will be found 
of great advantage. The philosophy of introducing 
a system of thorough under-draining — having drains 
about thirty or forty feet apart, like the bars of a grid- 
iron, over the entire field — is to cut off the water-veins 
that extend through the entire subsoil. 

Water passes through the soil and flows through the 
earth very much as the blood finds its way through the 
body of a living animal. There are water-veins, of 
numerous sizes, passing through and through the entire 
substratum of the earth, where it is at all compact, which 
convey and retain the water as blood is conveyed from 
one part of the body to another. In many instances, 
these water-veins seem like a water-tight tube passing 
through the earth, supplied with water from a source 
much higher than the outlet, or the place where the 
vein is tapped. When water- veins crop out at the sur- 
face of the ground, the water continues to percolate 



336 todd's country homes. 

through the surface soil, until every pore is completely 
filled, thus causing a wet soil — quite too wet for agri- 
cultural purposes. The philosophy of under-draining 
is, therefore, to check this excess of water, so as to 
allow the pores of the soil to be filled with air instead 
of water. The object, in practice, is to cut off the 
water- veins by a ditch, thus allowing the water to flow 
into an under-drain and be conveyed away, instead of 
working its way along until it reaches the surface of 
the ground. In many instances, numerous water-veins 
run nearly parallel with the surface of the soil, and 
they are filled only by water that percolates slowly 
through the surface soil into them. This is the case 
where the substratum is very heavy and compact. 
Small veins empty their contents into large ones, and 
the supply of the very small veins is derived from the 
pores of the surface soil, and also of the substratum. 
Of course, if the veins are not full of water, when there 
is an excess in the pores, it will readily find its way 
into them. 

The proper depth of Deahsts. — In many locali- 
ties, where under-drains are required, a drain may be 
made four feet in depth, and be no more effectual in 
conveying away the excess of water, than if the depth 
had been only thirty inches. For example, if most of 
the water-veins were about two feet beneath the sur- 
face, a drain thirty inches deep would collect all the 
surplus water quite as effectually as if the same drain 
had been sunk to the expensive depth of four feet. On 
the contrary, if the water-veins were over thirty inches 
below the surface of the ground, the bottom of the drain 
should be made a few inches below the point where 



THOROUGH TILLAGE. 337 

the veins are cut oif. Therefore we have this rule for 
determining the correct depth for making under- 
drains in any locality, namely, a depth of thirty inches, 
always, if it is practicable to sink drains to such a 
depth and have the advantage of sujfficient fall to carry 
off the water ; and deei^er than thirty inches, if the wa- 
ter-veins are not reached. In many instances, the first 
system of water- veins lies fully three feet from the sur- 
face of the land. When such is the case, the ditches 
should be made fully three feet and one-half in depth. 
The digger can determine in many instances, whether 
there is really a necessity for sinking a ditch deeper, 
by observing from whence most of the water comes. 
If the water continues to bubble up in the bottom of 
the ditch, while only a limited amount issues from the 
sides, the depth should be increased, unless the ditch 
has already been sunk over three feet. After a water- 
vein has once been cut off, the water issuing from it 
will, ever afterward, find a ready j^assage, and keep it 
open to the bottom of the drain, so long as the channel 
remains open, for the water to flow away. For a 
more complete chapter on draining, see Todd's Young 
Farmers' Manual. 

Thorough Tillage. — This term embraces thorough 
under-draining, complete pulverization, either by plow- 
ing, harrowing, cultivating, hoeing, rolling, manuring, 
and exterminating noxious weeds. Thorough tillage 
lies at the foundation of successful and progressive agri- 
culture. American farmers are beginning to wake uj) 
to the eminent importance of saving, with greater care, 
and applying a larger quantity of manure to their culti- 
vable fields. Indeed, our most thrifty and successful 

22 



338 TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 

tillers of the soil are not at all satisfied with their man- 
agement, unless they can give every field and plot of 
tilled land, a dressing of some kind of fertilizing mate- 
rial, as often as once in three or four years, at the 
longest interval, between the periods of manuring. 
Many are not satisfied unless they can apply a light 
dressing eyer?/ season, as they find it a paying system 
of management. This principle of compensation — of 
rendering an equivalent in manurial material for a 
bountiful crop removed — cannot be ignored, except at 
the peril of the fertility of the soil, inferior crops, and 
a consequent loss in profits. We have deep tillage and 
shalloiD tillage. The beginner should understand the 
character of his soil so well, that he will not make the 
egregious mistake that many enthusiastic farmers fall 
into, of plowing all kinds of land as deep as the soil 
can be worked. Where there is a fertile subsoil, and one 
can thrust a spade down into it, with ease, at almost 
any season of the year, there will be no advantage in 
subsoiling such ground. But, where the substratum is 
compact, it should be broken up. Sometimes it will be 
best to turn the subsoil to the surface. But, in most 
instances, it will be found far better to keep the thin 
layer of mould at the surface, and pulverize the sub- 
soil, keeping it in its proper place — beneath the surface 
soil. Sometimes the substratum is more fertile than 
the surface soil. When such is the case, put in the 
plow-beam deep. Beginners must study the character 
of their soil, and determine for themselves when to plow 
deep, and when not to plow deep. There is one point 
that will always be found entirely reliable, under all 
circumstances, and beginners need never be in doubt 



now TO PLOW DEEP. 339 

about it. If the entire stratum that is worked bv the 
plow be properly fertilized with manurial material, the 
deeper the plow is driven, the better. If manure can 
be applied in sufficient abundance to fertilize a depth 
of two feet, let the ground be worked at that depth, 
whatever the character of the soil may be, provided 
expense is no object. It might pay to till a soil two 
feet deep, and it might not. 

How TO Plow Deep. — When a tiller of the soil 
has only a single team, he is often j^nzzled to devise 
some practicable Avay of working his land deeper than 
usual with one team. As a great many ploM^s are cal- 
culated to run only four or five inches deep, they can- 
not be made to work at all satisfactorily, when they 
are adjusted to run ten inches in depth. Therefore, 
the first important consideration is to obtain a plow 
that has been formed with a direct reference to deep til- 
lage. When a plow is correctly adjusted, and the team 
hitched to it, with the proper length of traces or chain, 
if the various parts have been constructed in accord- 
ance with correct mechanical principles, the implement 
will run alone, where there are no obstructions, and 
maintain its correct position. In a trial at New Haven, 
made with one of the conical plows, after having adjusted 
the traces, clevis and gauge wheel, I let the plow run 
without holding, and those present will testify that we 
plowed eight times around the land, without my touch- 
ing the handles except at the ends, when turning 
around. This fact will show to beginners that if their 
plows do not glide along easily, like a canoe over the 
water, they are not properly adjusted, or the parts are 
not all correctly constructed. When adjusting a com- 



340 todd's country homes. 

mon plow for deep work, with a single team, the better 
way is to cut narrow furrow slices, letting the imple- 
ment run at the desired doptli, rather than attempt to 
plow two or three times in the same place to pulverize 
a foot deep. When a "■deep-tiller" plow is adjusted to 
run a foot in depth, a single team may draw it, even 
in compact land, provided the whiffletrees or the ox- 
yoke be so short that the plow will run naturally, with- 
out any laborious effort of the plowman to keep it 
erect, and cut a slice four or five inches in breadth. In 
order to do this, the ox-yoke must be as short as it can 
be, and allow the oxen to stand straight, side by side; 
and the whiffletrees should not be more than- twenty- 
two inches in length. When plowing deep in this man- 
ner, I have been accustomed to use a double whilUetree, 
only twenty-one inches in length from the middle of 
one single-tree to the other. By this means, it was 
easy to adjust the plow to cut only a very narrow fur- 
row slice. By adjusting a plow to cut only a few 
inches in width, the pulverizing will be as complete as 
by a thorough spading. Of course, it will be under- 
stood, that sod ground cannot be plowed with such nar- 
row furrow slices, when it is desirable to turn the sod 
under. Another important consideration is a sharp 
plow point with a fin-cutter. Or a sharp coulter may 
be employed to cut the furrow slice loose. A sharp 
coulter, correctly adjusted, or a sharp fm-cutter on the 
plowshare, will often reduce the draught of the plow 
from twenty to forty per cent. 

My own practice, when flirming, has been, to pur- 
chase a yoke of good oxen, when there was deep 
plowing to be performed, and hitch a yoke of oxen, 



now TO PLOW DEEP. 341 

and span of horses before a " deep tiller " plow, ad- 
just it to run about twelve or fourteen inches deep, 
and to cut a furrow slice eight to ten inches wide. T 
did all my own deep plowing in this manner, with- 
out a driver. Indeed, I did not need a driver, as I 
could always manage my own team, while holding the 
plow, far more satisfactorily than any driver. Be- 
sides this, those were my fat oxen, and a driver would 
fret and worry off more fat than the animals would 
secrete, and plow no more than I did. But, as I man- 
aged them, every member of the team would press 
gently and powerfully into the work, without any 
worrying or fretting. And the heavy oxen would 
waddle along, chewing their cuds, as they went. About 
half the time, the oxen seemed to be as stupid as when 
they were lying in the shade, enjoying rumination and 
quiet rest. And yet, my rule was to plow half an 
acre in half a day. Then, let the team rest. This was 
far better for them than to plow a large day's work, 
in one day, and lie idle for three days. After that 
team and plow had finished a field, the ground teas 
l)lowed. No part of it was "hogged over." If a 
stone lifted the ^^^ivf out of the ground, the team 
was backed up, and the plow w^as set in again. I 
usually did most of my deep plowing in late autumn. 
On one occasion, when snow was over four inches deep, 
my daily task was to speed the plow, in a heavy soil, 
twelve inches deep, through a strip of clover-sod, then 
a plot of stiff Kentucky blue grass-sod, and at last 
another plot of oats-stubble. Almost every farmer that 
passed along the street, would leave his team and travel 
once or twice abound with me, to see how smoothly 




342 todd's country homes. 

everything moved, and how thoroughly — like the finest 
spading — every square yard was broken up and pul- 
verized. It was just as easy to plow in that thorough 
manner, as to do it carelessly. 

Rigging a Double Team.— The illustration of an 
ox-yoke shown in this connection, with a strip of board 

about one foot long, 
having two holes near 
the upper end, through 
which the lines of the 
horses played, repre- 
sents the convenient 
arrangement I employed when plowing alone, with a 
double team, to keep the lines above the horns of the 
oxen. And even when a driver travels by the side of 
his oxen, he will find such an appliance a desirable aid 
for keeping the lines above the horns of the oxen. 

Maintaining the Fertility of the Soil. — When 
crops are carried off a field, and nothing returned to it, 
the soil will be impoverished. But, if the refuse prod- 
ucts of that field are carefully husbanded, and judi- 
ciously applied- to some other field on the farm, the 
farm will not be impoverished, as it would be, if every- 
thing were carried off, and nothing returned to the soil. 
That system of husbandry, which does not tend to ren- 
der a farm more valuable and productive, from year to 
year, until it produces as large crops as any soil is ca- 
pable of producing, is decidedly objectionable. When 
a soil is well cultivated by thorough pulverization, and 
everything that grows on it is returned to it, or allowed 
to decay, the soil will become more and more fertile. 
It cannot be expected that a field will produce, from 



FEKTILITY OF THE SOIL. 343 

year to year, an increased number of bushels of grain, 
when nothing but the bare straw is returned to it, after 
it has been fed to stock, and a most valuable jDortion of 
it is lost by evaporation or by leaching. Large quan- 
tities of the very heart of the soil are carried off in the 
grain, in the butter and cheese, beef, pork, mutton and 
poultry which are produced on the farm, an equivalent 
for which substances is never returned again to the soil. 
Now then, the idea is, how shall the young farmer 
be able to keep his farm in a high state of fertility, 
so as to produce a little better crops, each year, when 
he is constantly carrying off the very best qualities of 
the soil ? In order to keep a soil good, and to increase 
its fertility, and have it produce a crop every season, 
the greatest care must be exercised in saving all that 
grows on a field, and returning to the soil, in the shape 
of manure, an equivalent for what has been carried off. 
How much will a large stack of straw enrich a field, 
when it is allowed to remain in one place, undisturbed, 
until it has decayed. Thousands of farmers dispose of 
their straw in this manner, and then complain that 
"farming does not pay," and that their "crops are not 
as good as they were years ago." The motto of every 
successful farmer must be, " Let nothing be wasted that 
will make manure, and let no manure be wasted," and 
he must make it a rule to manure every field, for every 
crop of Indian corn and for every crop of wheat, where 
such grain is grown, either with barn-j^ard manure, clo- 
ver, maize, guano poudrette, or some other fertilizer 
that will be an equivalent for what has been removed 
from the soil, in previous crops. If a crop of hay is 
sold from the farm,- a farmer should calculate to pur- 



344 todd's country homes. 

chase a lot of ashes, gypsum, bone dust, or coarse ma- 
nure, or to collect sods, muck, marl, peat, or something 
that will return to the soil, from which the hay had 
been taken, an equivalent for it. As much coarse grain 
should be ground and fed to stock on the farm as pos- 
sible, in order to make a rich manure, for keeping the 
soil in a good state of fertility. The flesh, blood and 
bones of fat swine and bullocks have been produced 
from the very cream of the soil. Now, in order to re- 
turn an equivalent to the soil, the bones from the 
kitchen shoidd not be carelessly thrown away, but care- 
fully saved and ground or dissolved, to be returned to 
the soil. On many farms, some of the fields are very 
liable to be flooded, and large quantities of the soil 
washed away. In such instances, places should be ex- 
cavated, into .which the soil may be carried by the 
water, where it will be retained, when it may be hauled 
back on the less fertile portions of the field. The aim 
should be to keep the soil good, rather than to test its 
greatest productiveness. My aim always was, when 
engaged in farming, to render my soil more fertile, 
rather than to produce large crops, and I am confident 
that I could perceive, every year, that my crops of all 
kinds, were a little better than those of the previous 
year. If I did not raise a crop of grain on a certain 
field every season, clover or maize was plowed under. 
There was no loss ultimately. 

Farmers who are accustomed to keep droves of sheep 
or neat cattle, should manage to have each animal leave 
manure enough on the field during the night, to pro- 
duce as much hay or grass as it consumed. This may 
be done by imitating the example of a thrifty farmer, 



EOTATION OF CROPS. 345 

who would never keep a drove over night unless the 
owner would make every anmial, if it was " lying 
down/' get up and move about an hour before the 
drove was taken from the field. Every observing 
farmer knows that when animals rise in the morning;, 
after having lain all night, they pour out a huge quan- 
tity of fecal matter. Tillers of the soil who are accus- 
tomed to make much beef and mutton, if they do not 
allow their animals to run in " the long enclosure," 
which extends from Maine to Florida, if they save the 
manure, and apply it judiciously, drain their fields as 
they should be, and cultivate them well, never fail to 
raise bountiful crops. 

EoTATioN^ Of Crops. — All cultivable land, even to 
the vegetable garden, should be tilled in accordance 
with some good rotation system. There are so many 
kinds of crops, that one can select a few, which will 
be well adapted to the quality of the land. In case 
manure is scarce, a crop of clover, or Indian corn 
should be plowed in, at least once in four years. Fields 
should be laid out in equal plots, to facilitate a rotation 
system. Systems of rotation must vary according to 
the nature of the soil in different regions of country, 
the amount and kind of manure at command, the clean- 
ness of the land, the nature of the market, and the 
proper distribution of labor. A very common rotation 
consists of a crop of Indian corn, with a liberal dress- 
ing of barn-yard manure, with clean cultivation. -The 
second year, a crop of barley. After the barley has 
been removed, plow twice, and drill in winter wheat, 
with a top dressing of good compost ; seed with timothy 
in September, or with red clover in the next spring ; 



346 todd's country homes. 

and then, mow the grass the first year, plow the clover in 
or pasture it. The next year commence with Indian 
corn again. Wherever this system is adopted, the soil 
will be kept good, and, fair crops will always be pro- 
duced. Another rotation is, first year, wheat after clo- 
ver. Second year, corn, potatoes and ruta bagas, with 
all the manure made that year. Third year, barley. 
Fourth year, wheat, seeded with clover. Fifth year, clo- 
ver, pastured. On many farms, beans, peas, broom- 
corn, or flax may be cultivated with good satisfaction. 
Rye is also an excellent crop to raise in rotation. 
Every farmer should choose a system of rotation to 
suit his locality and soil. In case one, or two, or three 
kinds of cereal grain have been raised for many years 
in succession, so that the soil has been badly impover- 
ished, it will be well to raise grass and clover for three 
or four seasons, either for hay, or pasture. By this 
means, land will have time to improve by resting. 

Making Beef, Mutton and Pork. — One of the 
most effectual ways of maintaining the fertility of any 
soil is, by feeding beef cattle, sheep and swine, making 
large quantities of rich manure, and applying it to the 
land before the manure has lost a large proportion of 
its fertilizing properties. This system of management 
will involve, to a certain extent, a system of mixed 
husbandry. There is no better and no more economi- 
cal way of keeping land rich and producing bountiful 
crops, than by feeding stock in sufficient numbers, to 
consume a large proportion of the coarse grain that is 
produced on the farm. If a farmer is a judicious man- 
ager, he will find it more profitable to feed out his 
coarse grain, then to sell it. One great source of jDrofit 



CONSTRUCTION OF OUTHOUSES. 347 

will be found in the rich manure made by fattening 
animals. Stock that subsist largely on grain or meal, 
will make manure far richer in grain-producing mate- 
rial, than if they were kept on straw, or hay, without 
grain. But, a man must understand the art of feeding 
animals, or he may as well cast his meal into the ma- 
nure yard. If, by feeding one hundred bushels of 
coarse grain to fattening stock, one can realize barely 
the market price for the feed, if he will take proper 
care of the manure, and apply it, judiciously, his main 
profits in feeding stock, will appear in the increased 
yield of the succeeding crops. 

My practice, for several years was, to feed out all my 
coarse grain to sheep or steers. And, in some instances, 
I purchased oil meal and Indian corn, after my own 
grain was consumed. The manure was housed with 
care, and applied to the soil. After a crop of clover 
had been plowed in, and a dressing of rich manure ap- 
plied, the following season, I was surprised to see how 
rapidly an impoverished soil could be renovated. By 
this system of management, I more than doubled the 
product of my fields in six years. 

Construction of Outhouses. — The illustration on 
page 348, represents a poudrette manufactory. The 
object of such a building, is to show how to collect and 
save valuable fertilizing material. Four posts of du- 
rable timber, set in the ground three feet, will subserve 
the purpose of brick pillars. The superstructure should 
be of convenient size, with two apartments, with a 
trelHs fence between the doors, covered with grape- 
vines, for the purpose of obstructing the view and 
forming a secluded entrance to the doorways. 



348 



todd's country homes. 



There are two ways of building such a superstruct- 
ure, one of which is to set up studs between the plates 
and sills, cover the outside with clapboards and lath, 
and plaster the interior ; and the other way is, to nail 
matched boards to the sills and plates, paint the outside. 




PERSPECTIVE OF A POUDRETTE MANUFACTORY. 

and paper the inside. The sink beneath should be 
made w^ater-tight, the corners iron-bound, and a few 
rollers, like pieces of broom-handles, placed beneath 
the sink, to facilitate drawing it out, when the contents 
are to be removed. 

A vault below the surface of the ground should 
never be made for a privy. The accumulations, if 
properly saved and applied to the soil, will be worth, 
for increasing the product of wheat, or any other grain, 
as much as the flour of which bread is made for every 
individual. Indeed, were the daily accumulations of a 
privy carefully compos.ted, and applied to the land, for 
growing wheat, it would be seen that we are accus- 
tomed to waste enougli of the best quality of fertiliz- 
ing material to produce our bread from year to year. 



THE CULTURE OF WHEAT. 349 



THE CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. 

" In the rich soil, dear wheat we sow ; 
Out of the soil, fine wheat we grow ; 
In measureless store, we garner the sheaves, 
When the kernels are ripe and dry the leaves ; 
Out of the sheaves, pure wheat we beat ; 
Out of the chaff, we winnow the wheat." — Edwards. 

Botanically speaking, wheat is properly one of the 
grasses. Winter-wheat is denominated Tinticiun liy- 
hernum. And spring-wheat JVi^ict^m^s^irw??!. As the 
subject of wheat culture in all its phases would be 
sufficient for a large book, my notes on wheat in this 
volume must be comparatively brief. 

The j)i'oduction of a crop of fine wheat on most 
kinds of land, will depend almost entirely on the skill 
and management of the tiller of the soil. With bad 
management, such as most of our wheat-fields receive, 
the culture of this cereal will scarcely return the ex- 
pense incurred in putting in the seed and harvesting 
the crop. There is no sufficient reason why the culti- 
vable land of America, which once yielded bountiful 
crops of fine wheat, should not now produce as heavy 
yields of grain as is grown in the Old World. Our 
climate is well adapted to the production of wheat ; 
the seasons are eminently favorable ; and the soil, 
wherever it has not been impoverished by a ruinous sys- 
tem of management, will not fail to produce good pay- 
ing crops of grain. Wheat has been allowed to degen- 
erate by bad management. Excellent varieties of 
wheat have not been kept pure. Growing wheat will 
mix about as readily as Indian corn. As proper care 
has not been exercised to maintain the purity of a good 



350 



TODD S COUNTEY HOMES. 



variety, the seed has soon degenerated to such an ex- 
tent, that the identity of the large and 
plump kernels could not be recognized 
after a few seasons. The best sorts have 
been allowed to degenerate by injudicious 
management, until the belief has become 
prevalent, that wheat must necessarily 
degenerate ; because every known vari- 
ety, which was originated at large ex- 
pense, and which was cultivated with 
much care for several seasons, has failed. 
This fact cannot be denied. The excel- 
lent Treadwell wheat, the far-famed 
Soules wheat, the prolific Weeks variety, 
the old Red-chaJBf bald wheat, and many 
other varieties that were once highly 
esteemed as the most desirable kinds of 
grain that could be cultivated, have wo- 
fully deteriorated. 

This mischief can be removed by a 
careful system in gathering seed-grain. 
The well marked and most valuable 
varieties must be kept apart, and the 
best of each field gathered for seed the 
following year. The choice varieties 
were originated in this way, and the 
purity of the seed must be maintained 
by a similar system. 

Another consideration has dissuaded 

many farmers from attempting to pro- 
it HEAD OF IM- p 1 i il 1 J. 

PROVED WHEAT, ducc a crop 01 wheat — the character 
of the soil. The frequent plea is, "My soil is not 



THE CULTUKE OF WHEAT. 351 

adapted to the production of this kind of grain, whether 
the seed be sown in autumn or in the sjDring." One 
farmer contends that it will be of no avail to attempt 
to raise wheat without a calcareous clay soil. Another 
must have an argillaceous soil. And still another, who 
has a soil that will yield, with proper management, fifty 
bushels of prime wheat per acre, has no confidence in 
any efforts to produce a crop of wheat, simply because, 
as he thinks, the soil is not as it should be. There are 
other considerations affecting the cultivation of wheat 
unfavorably, one of which I may mention, namely, the 
prevalence of weeds where the wheat-plants are to 
grow. Growing wheat-plants cannot cope with hardy 
and noxious weeds of any kind. Grass, when growing 
among wheat, is one of the most pernicious weeds of a 
cultivated field. Wheat will not flourish unless the 
growing plants can bear undisputed sway as far as their 
leaves and roots extend. Every other plant that sends 
out its roots and spreads its leaves and branches near 
the wheat-plant is a formidable enemy. Some plants 
are gross feeders; they will flourish wherever the roots 
can obtain a foot-hold. The thousand mouths that the 
roots send out will subsist on any coarse and raw ma- 
terial that may be found in the soil. On the contrary, 
the wheat-plant is a delicate feeder. Its fastidious 
roots search for the dainty bits of j)hosphoric acid, 
nitrogenous matter, aluminous particles, and silicate of 
potash that exist, in very limited quantities, in most 
kinds of land. If these are not to be found, the root- 
lets will not prepare their pabulum from the coarse 
material. Red clover or the Kentucky blue grass are 
both such gross feeders that their roots will plow, 



352 todd's countet homes. 

subsoilj scarify, and work over rough and coarse earth, 
changing it into a fine garden-mould, which is excellent 
food for other plants. But the wheat-plant must have 
its nourishment provided in proper abundance, and in 
the exact condition required bj its roots. There is not 
so much depending on the quality of the soil as upon 
the management of the faiTiier. A good clay loam 
holds the first position as a soil for wheat. Then excel- 
lent crops of this grain can be produced where silicious 
sand predominates in the soil. A heavy clay soil is 
better for wheat than a light sandy loam, or a mucky 
soil. Wheat requires a liberal proportion of aluminous 
matter. Then, in order to meet the requirements of 
the growing plants, they must be supplied with silicious 
material. Still another ingredient is potash, found 
in wood-ashes. Wheat-plants must have a bountiful 
supply of silicate of potash to give stiffness to the 
straw. Otherwise, driving storms will prostrate the 
heavy stems, and prevent the ears from filling with 
grain. When there is a bountiful supply of silicate of 
potash in the soil, the stems of growing wheat will be 
covered with a bright, glassy film, which will not only 
stiffen the straw, but will fortify the grain against the 
pernicious effects of rust and mildew. 

The question then recurs, how may a tiller of the 
soil succeed in raising a good crop of this grain? The 
first important step will be to relieve the soil of exces- 
sive moisture, where the land is at all inclined to be 
wet. Nature has made ample provision for the drain- 
age of some sections of the country ; while in other 
localities, even where the land is cultivated from year 
to year, the soil is quite too wet for wheat. Another 



THE CULTURE OF WHEAT. 353 

requisite of prime importance is, the improvement of 
the seed. The farmers of our country can never raise 
good crops of this or any other cereal, until the seed 
has been saved with great care, from year to year, for 
many successive seasons, just as we save the seed of 
Indian corn. With the imperfect cultivation that our 
wheat now "beceives, if the seed were improved as seed- 
wheat may be, by careful selection, for a few successive 
seasons, the wheat crop would be increased fully one- 
third. Wheat requires a system of thorough and pro- 
gressive agriculture. The wheat-plant is a delicate and 
dainty feeder; the roots will not feed on coarse ma- 
nure; they need the fine and delicate pabulum that has 
been prepared by the growth and decay of the roots 
and stems of red clover. The wheat-plant must be 
supplied with such fertilizing material as will form 
large heads and plump kernels of grain. Strawy ma- 
nure will not make grain. The wheat-plant requires 
such pabulum as is left in the soil after a heavy crop 
of red clover has been plowed under ; and also after 
a heavy dressing of rich barn-yard manure has been 
applied, and a crop of Indian corn removed. The 
barn-yard manure must be such as is made by fatten- 
ing sheep or beef-cattle on grain. Such manure will 
yield a large supply of grain-producing material such as 
growing wheat-plants demand before large, plump heads 
of grain will develop. By adopting a system of mixed 
husbandry — feeding out much coarse grain and oil meal, 
so as to make rich manure — by proper cultivation of the 
soil, and improvement of seed, farmers in New England 
can raise large crops of fine wheat, wherever the soil 
will produce red clover, Indian corn, and turnips. 

23 



354 todd's countet homes. 

CuLTUKE OF Spking- Wheat. — As our nortlierh win- 
ters are so severe on winter-wheat, it is a consideration 
of eminent importance to improve some of tke varie- 
ties of spring-wheat, so that our wheat may be grown 
by sowing the seed in the spring, rather than in the au- 
tunm. There are several excellent varieties of spring- 
wheat which would yield as many bushels ot fine grain 
per acre, and produce as choice flour as winter grain, 
were the seed improved for a few successive seasons, as 
it might be, by a careful selection of the best heads, 
and by a rejection of the half-ripened and imperfectly 
developed kernels. In some localities the seed has 
been allowed to degenerate to such an extent, and the 
cultivation has been so inferior, that farmers cannot get 
a paying crop. Consequently, the wheat is denounced, 
when the entire fault exists in the management of the 
tillers of the soil. There is no plausible reason why 
seed-wheat should degenerate, and a good variety never 
would deteriorate were it raised on one farm for a long 
succession of years, if proper care were exercised in sav- 
ing the best seed from year to year. In producing an im- 
proved variety of spring-wheat, it is desirable to estab- 
lish its characteristics with the same permanency that 
exists in an improved breed of horses, neat cattle, or 
sheep. We want a thorough-hred variety of white spring- 
wheat that can always be relied on for a satisfactory 
crop. One great trouble with our wheat-growing farm- 
ers has been for a long period, and even now is attrib- 
utable to poor seed and to injudicious management 
with seed-grain from year to year. Instead of improv- 
ing the seed, the entire management has been most ef- 
fectual in causing the variety sown to deteriorate, so 



HOW TO IMPKOVE THE SEED. 355 

that, after a few years, its identity has disappeared. 
For this reason, the grain that is known in our State as 
a certain variety will be very unlike the product of 
another State that bears the same name. 

How TO Improve the Seed. — One way to secure a 
good variety will be to procure a few pounds of the best 
seed, pick it over by hand with great care, rejecting 
all inferior kernels, and then, plant none but those that 
are large and plump. Prepare a plot of rich ground 
in the garden, where manure was applied last season, 
and dibble in the kernels, one in a place, about six 
inches apart each way. It will be an excellent plan 
to stick a few brush all over the plot, to aid in keeping 
the growing wheat erect. As soon as the grain has 
riiDcned, select a few of the best ears, those that appear 
to be nearly alike, and from this selection, commence 
again to develop an improved variety. Continue to 
select and cultivate thoroughly for five or six years. 
A bushel of wood-ashes scattered broadcast over every 
square rod of land will prove beneficial. The potash 
furnished from this source will render material aid in 
stiffening the straw, thus keeping the growing grain 
erect, until the kernels have ripened. If the inferior 
ears are rejected with care every season, and the well- 
chosen seed be put into a fertile soil, after a few years 
have passed, a variety will be obtained which will be 
thoroughly acclimated, and which will yield good crops 
with as much certainty, as improved animals may be 
propagated from the best specimens of thorough-bred 
stock. The wheat fields of our country might yield 
forty bushels of excellent wheat per acre just as well 
as ten or fifteen. And the time is fast approaching 



356 todd's country homes. 

when the yield of fine wheat will be as boimtiful in our 
own coimtiy as it is in Europe. A bountiful crop of 
wheat depends mainly on two things — a rich soil and 
improved seed. Seed plays quite as important part in 
the production of a heavy crop of wheat as a thorough- 
bred male in rearing domestic animals of a superior 
quality. Let one or two square rods of rich ground in 
the garden be planted with selected seed of a choice 
variety of spring- wheat. Dibble in the kernels about 
two inches deep, one in a place, and about nine inches 
apart in the drills. The California white, which may 
be obtained at most seed-stores, may thus be acclimated 
in a few years, so that every farmer who has rich land 
may raise a fair crop of beautiful white spring-wheat, 
provided he maintain the fertility of the soil by the 
application of grain-producing fertilizers and red clover. 
It is a rare thing to find the seed of any variety kept 
separate from inferior kinds of grain, the entire crop 
being usually thrashed together as if the grain were all 
of one kind. When seed-time arrives, the seed must 
be taken from such grain as can be obtained. And, in 
most instances, the poor kernels that are utterly unfit 
for seed are sown with the expectation of raising a fixir 
crop from grain that has thus so seriously degenerated. 
It would be just as sensible to slaughter all the beautiful 
Devons, Durhams, and Herefords, on which our farmers 
depend for the desired improvements in their herds of 
neat cattle, and attempt to propagate beautiful cows 
and bullocks from the most inferior scrubs. Like will 
produce like, as well in the vegetable as in the animal 
kingdom. In Oregon, California and in some of the 
Atlantic States, white spring-wheat, of a beautiful qual- 



BEST SOIL FOR WHEAT. 357 

ity Is now raised. Let a few quarts be obtained, sowed 
on rich ground, for a few seasons, and the seed sowed 
with care, the inferior kinds culled out, the soil thor- 
oughly cultivated and enriched, and there will be no dif- 
ficulty in raising bountiful crops of plump whe.at. If 
noxious insects are the only trouble, the fertility of the 
soil must be so improved, that the wheat will grow 
faster than they can eat. Pile on wood-ashes, coal- 
ashes and lime as soon as the seed is put in. There is 
no danger of applying too large a quantity of either. 

Best Soil for Wheat. — The best soil for wheat is 
one in which the predominating characteristics are clay 
and loam, having neither too much of the one nor too 
much of the other. The lighter loam soils and such 
alluvions as have been brought from clayey localities, 
will often produce bountiful crops of excellent wheat, 
and sometimes a mucky soil will yield a fair crop of 
this kind of grain. But their fertility for wheat will 
soon be exhausted. Calcareous clays, gravelly clays, 
aluminous clays, as well as many soils that are a mix- 
ture of all these just named, with good management — 
cultivating, manuring and draining — will always yield 
fair crops of wheat. Our aluminous, heavy, slippery, 
clay soils are by no means the best for the production 
of either winter or spring-wheat ; although they will 
yield good crops when well drained and thoroughly 
pulverized and manured. Our country abounds in soils 
of a mixed character, which will produce a remunera- 
ting crop of wheat once in five or six years, while they 
cannot be set down as good wheat soils. A sandy soil 
will furnish silica enough to form a stiff straw, while a 
mucky soil will produce a slender and soft straw, which 



358 todd's country homes. 

will fall down before the grain is matured. I have of- 
ten seen heavy crops of wheat on a sandy soil, when 
the land was properly manured. If a soil is destitute 
of wheat-producing material, it cannot produce a boun- 
tiful crop of that kind of grain. There are many that 
will produce fair crops of Indian corn, barley and oats, 
which will not yield a remunerating crop of wheat. 
And why ? Simply because the crop of wheat plants 
cannot find in that soil the right kind of materials 
to form the kernels. In one soil the minute roots 
find abundance of material, which they may take up 
for the formation and perfect development of kernels, 
while in another soil, the roots may send out their 
numerous little, hungry mouths into every cubic inch 
of soil in search of material to produce the grain, and 
not find it. This is the great difficulty wdth soil that 
will not produce wheat ; and until proper materials are 
added, the land may be cultivated and sowed in vain. 
Peeparation of the Soil for Wheat. — 

" If vain and fruitless be the tiller's toil, 

He ought to blame the culture — not the soil." 

Growing wheat needs manure, and the soil must be 
manured for this kind of grain, or a fair crop can not 
be produced. But when barn-yard manure is applied 
to the soil to increase the w^heat crop, the kind of ma- 
nure and the quality of the soil must be well consid- 
ered. The straw will usually grow large enough on 
almost any soil, and quite too large and heavy on soils 
that abound in large quantities of vegetable matter. 
Therefore, it is much better to have the manure for the 
wheat crop, in a very concentrated form, by which the 
amount of grain will be increased, and not the amount 
of straw. This object may be attained in two ways. 



PKEPAEING THE SOIL FOR WHEAT. 359 

One is, by applying the manure in a liquid state ; and, 
the other is, by composting the coarse material, or by 
having the fertilizing substances in it, very much con- 
centrated, so that the growth of the straw will not be 
promoted as much as the growth of the grain. If 
the soil should be very porous, friable and full of vege- 
table matter, if the manure could be applied in a 
liquid state, the luxuriant growth of straw would not 
be so much promoted as would be the growth and 
more perfect development of the grain. On light soils, 
the great growth of straw should be guarded against, 
and the aim should be to fill the soil with those fertili- 
zers tbat will produce grain and not straw. If the soil 
be manured with strawy manure, as there is but a 
small quantity of grain-forming material in straw, the 
product will be a heavy burden of straw and a light 
crop of grain. If wheat, Indian corn and barley be 
raised in a course of rotation with oats, it will always 
be the most advisable, and will be attended with the 
best results, both on the productiveness of the soil and 
in the increased amount of grain, to apply the manure 
to some other crop, besides wheat. By applying the 
manure to Indian corn, for example, if it should be as 
thoroughly incorporated with the soil as it will be if 
spread evenly, the coarse manure will be in a condi- 
tion, by the time the growing wheat-plants are ready 
to be benefited by it, to promote the growth of the 
grain, instead of the growth of the straw. If a crop 
of Indian corn be raised after the coarse manure has 
been applied, and the next season a crop of winter or 
spring-wheat were raised, then, if the cultivation has 
been thorough, the manure will exert a great influence 



360 todd's country homes. 

in producing a more bountiful yield of grain than of 
straw. There is but little difficulty in raising 'a fair 
crop of wheat, if weeds are thoroughly exterminated, 
rich manure be applied to the soil, and the surplus 
water be removed by under-draining. These three sug- 
gestions embrace the entire science of wheat culture. 
The growing wheat-plants require just such a prepara- 
tion of soil as is considered essential for a good vege- 
table garden. A fat soil w^ill not fail to yield a boun- 
tiful crop of plump wheat. The wheat-plant may be 
produced on almost any soil. But, where there is a 
deficiency of the proper material out of which the grow- 
ing plants may form the grain, the crop must necessa- 
rily fail. Strawy manure will not make wheat, as 
there is only a small quantity of grain-producing ma- 
terial in a ton of straw. If land be manured for a 
year or two, with the accumulations of stables where 
domestic animals consume large quantities of meal or 
grain, the soil will be furnished with just such material 
as the growing plants must be supplied with, in order 
to swell out the ears with large and plump kernels. 

Prevention of Smut in Wheat. — A few days pre- 
vious to the time of putting in the seed, let a few gal- 
lons of chamber-lye be saved, in which to steep the 
seed, after it has been diluted by the addition of water 
equal to the amount of lye. After the seed has soaked 
three or four hours, for every ten bushels add two 
ounces of arsenic dissolved in' rain water, sj)read the 
wheat on a level floor, take a broom and dip it in the 
mixture, and shake it over the wheat until there is 
sufficient to wet the whole. Shovel the grain over 
once or twice, until you are satisfied that it is all soaked 



DRILLING IN WHEAT. 



361 



alike. Then, sift over it a thin coat of fine slaked 
lime, shovel over until the lime adheres to all the 
wheat alike. When it is ready for sowing, should 
there be occasion to wash the wheat in salt brine for 
the purpose of cleaning it, the dissolved arsenic may 
be added to a small quantity of chamber-lye and applied 
as above, after the salt brine has been thoroughly 
drained. Roll the seed in gypsum, and it may be put 
in with a drill. 

Drilling in Wheat. — The illustration herewith 
given, furnishes a fair idea of the uniformity of the 




WHEAT DRILLED IN. 



size of wheat, when the seed was drilled in. If the 
seed be all deposited at a uniform depth, the stems will 
always attain a more equal hight and uniform develop- 
ment. 

In order to illustrate more particularly the impor- 
tance of putting in the seed of winter--wheat, with a 
drill, an exact representation of a young wheat-plant 
is shown, with all the seminal, or primary roots, as 
drawn from a young plant. At A, just above the ker- 
nel, a bulb is always formed, a short distance below the 
surface of the soil. From this point, the coronal roots 



362 



TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 



always spring. Now then, .when putting in winter- 
wheat, rye, or barley, the aim should be to plant the 
seed shallow, so that both the seminal and the coronal 




A YOUNG WHEAT-PLANT. 



roots may spread out near each other ; and thus pre- 
vent the young plants being lifted out by the frost. 

CULTIVATION OF OATS. 
" When grass comes creeping and the mellow notes 
Of joyous birds are heard, then sow your oats ; 
And, ere the music of the peepers floats 
On vernal breezes, plow and sow the oats." 

The botanical signification of oats is Avena Sativa. 
The origin of this kind of grain is unknown. There 



CULTIVATION OF OATS. 



363 




A PANICLE OF WHITE OATS. 



are numerous varieties, each of which may be distin- 
guished by the color and form 
of the grain, or by the shape of 
the panicles. In the panicles of 
the ^^Horse-mane'" oats, the 
branches are all on one side of 
the main stem. The forms of the 
panicles in other varieties are 
quite different, one from the other. 
The varieties of the cultivated 
oats, are classified into the white, 
hlack and gy^ay oats. The weight, 
23er bushel, of different varieties, 
is indicated by all intermediate 
pounds, between twenty-five and 
fifty. The light oats are far more 
profitable to cultivate, when one desires oats to sell, 
than the heavy grain, as the heavy grain exhausts the 
soil far more than the light. But, the heavy oats are 
preferable for feed, as they will afford a much larger 
proportion of nutriment, than the light oats. Oats are 
susceptible of a wonderful improvement both in quality 
and quantity, per acre, by selecting the seed with great 
care, every season, and by giving the crop deep, clean, 
and rich cultivation. One hundred bushels of clean 
grain might be produced per acre, by judicious man- 
agement, just as easily as forty, by the present perfunc- 
tory system of cultivation. Although oats will yield a 
fair crop, where wheat and barley will scarcely fructify, 
the crop will be correspondingly larger, when the fer- 
tility of the soil is improved by thorough pulveriza- 
tion, manuring and improved seed. 



364 todd's couktry homes. 

Oats have been, and now are, one of the most profit- 
able, as well as one of the most certain crops that a 
farmer can raise. Perhaps there is no other kind of 
cereal grain that possesses such great hardiness as oats. 
In our best grain -growing regions, where wheat, barley 
and Indian corn would not half pay the expense of 
cultivation, the soil would yield a profitable crop of 
oats. And in very many localities, not only in the 
Empire State, but in the New England and some of the 
Western States, where wheat and barley could not be 
grown with an}^ profit, the oat crop has been cultivated, 
on the same soil, during many successive years -, and 
we are familiar with instances where nothing but oats, 
oats, OATS, have been the only crop on certain fields for 
ten and twenty years. And nothing has been returned 
to the soil in the shape of grain-producing material. 
The soil had become so much impoverished that no 
other grain would mature. Therefore nothing but 
oats were cultivated. When the wheat midge first 
commenced its ravages in our wheat-fields, many 
farmers would not attempt to raise even enough wheat 
for their own bread, because one acre of oats would 
purchase more wheat than would grow on three acres. 

Oats have no rival as an article of food for both man 
and beast, while the straw is an excellent staple for fod- 
der, enabling the careful farmer to rear and maintain a 
much larger stock of both horses and cattle than if he 
depended only on his hay. While chemists assure us 
that oats contain eighteen parts of gluten and six parts 
of fat, while wheat has but ten parts of gluten and two 
parts of fat, it seems strange that oat-meal is not more 
generally used as an article of food in place of wheat. 



QUANTITY OF SEED PER ACRE. 365 

Quantity of Seed per Acre. — There is a variety 
of opinions as to the most profitable quantity of seed 
to be sown per acre. But numerous well-conducted ex- 
periments have proved that on good soil three and one- 
half bushels of oats will be found to be the maximum 
quantity that should be sown per acre. The quantity 
to be sown will depend, to a considerable extent, on 
the character and condition of the soil. If rich, well- 
pulverized, and in the best condition, a smaller quan- 
tity of seed will be required than if the soil were less 
fertile. My own practice usually was, to drill in about 
three bushels of plump, clean seed per acre, one-half 
of which was distributed by going over the ground 
once, and the remainder was put in as the drill was 
driven, about at a right angle to the direction of the 
first drilling. Oats are so light that it is difficult to 
sow them by hand. I have always found it to pay 
satisfactorily to employ a drill to put in the seed, as it 
will be distributed more evenly, and the seed is cov- 
ered of a more nniform depth than when harrowed in. 
Besides this, the feet of teams will bury much of the 
seed quite too deep, especially in mellow ground. 

Bad Management in Cultivating Oats. — The 
system of management which is adopted very exten- 
sively in many parts of the United States, is decidedly 
bad, not only for the immediate pecuniary interest of 
farmers, but for the productiveness of their farms, and 
for the country. It is bad for farmers, because they 
receive only a light crop, when their soil is capable of 
yielding, in many instances, twice as much as it has 
fonnerly produced, with the same amount of cultiva- 
tion. It is bad for the soil, because it is kept in a very 



366 todd's country homes. 

foul condition, which, of course, renders it less produc- 
tive. And it is bad for the coimiry, because field agri- 
culture is the great motive power of the nation, and 
anytliing that tends to diminish the quantity of grain 
will tend to cripple the resources of government. I re- 
fer, particularly, to the practice of growing oats for 
many years in succession on the same soil, by plowing 
it only once, and seldom returning anything in the form 
of fertilizers, to compensate for the crops that have 
been removed. Thousands of acres of excellent land 
for agricultural purposes are cultivated in this way un- 
til Canada thistles, wild mustard, horse dock, and many 
other noxious weeds have taken almost entire posses- 
sion of the soil; and one of the worst features in this 
system of management with the oat crop is, all the 
weeds mature their seeds before the oats are ripe 
enough to cut, and enough is shelled out, when the oats 
are harvested, to seed the soil for seven years to come, 
and the Canada thistle seed is blown over the country. 
In all such localities, if farmers will discontinue oats, 
and raise a crop of Indian corn one year, and a crop of 
buckwheat the next season, and apply all the manure 
they are able to- make, they will soon find that it will 
be far better, and more profitable, to adopt some rota- 
tion system, even where oats have been considered the 
most profitable crop to raise, for several years in succes- 
sion. It is quite impracticable for a farmer to avail 
himself of the great benefits arising from clean culti- 
vation of the soil, when it is plowed only once each 
year, and then in the spring. As a general rule, little 
or no care at all is exercised in selecting seed oats, but 
the entire crop of the farm — good and poor, plump and 



BAD MANAGEMENT IN CULTIVATING OATS. 3G7 

shrunken, ripe and half-ripe, early and late, as well as 
those kinds that ripen at different periods — are all stored 
together, and, the seed oats are taken from this mix- 
ture and sowed without any preparation, farther than 
to have the grain clean from chaff and straw. The 
consequence is, the best seed will ripen, and fall to the 
ground before those panicles that spring from the half- 
ripe seed will be out of the milk. And, if the half-ripe 
and shrunken kernels produce grain, it will be light. 
If late oats be sowed, we cannot expect that the grain 
will ripen as early by eight to fourteen days, as it would 
have done, if the best quality of seed had been sown. 
Late-ripened, half-ripened seed, has a greater tendency 
to degenerate the grain, than any practice connected 
with the cultivation of the crop, whatever that crop 
may be. Thousands of acres are plowed every year 
for oats, in the most rough, cut-and-cover manner of 
which we can conceive ; and, the seed is sown, on this 
uneven land, and collected by the harrow teeth into 
depressions sometimes four times as thick as the grain 
should be sowed, in order to obtain the greatest yield 
per acre. If the ground be plowed deep, the grain 
that is deposited in such large depressions will be cov- 
ered so deep that even the grain that springs from 
good seed, will not mature uniformly, which, of 
course, is no small loss in the quantity of grain per 
acre. Another great error is sowing the seed broad- 
cast when the wind blows. In many instances, a good 
portion of the ground will be seeded much thicker 
than it ought to be, to yield well, while other portions 
will not be half seeded. If the grain be light, the wind 
will blow it so that it will be impossible to scatter it 



368 todd's country homes. 

evenly. If a part of the seed be heavy and j^lump, 
the light kernels will not fall among the heavy ones. 
Of course, the plants springing from the poor, or from 
the best kinds, will be quite as different as the grain, 
and at the same time unevenly distributed over the 
land. All these things exert an important influence 
on the yield of grain. 

The remedy is to procure the best of seed, put the 
soil in a better condition for receiving the grain, and 
sow it with a broadcast seed sow^er, or put it in with a 
drill, or sow the grain by hand when there is but little 
or no wind. 

Manuring the Soil for Oats. — Although oats ab- 
sorb coarser materials from the soil than wheat, or bar- 
ley, there is no other kind of grain that will return a 
better compensation in an increased amount of grain, 
per acre, in consequence of the soil being manured, 
than oats. Indeed, oats flourish the very best, when 
the soil is under the highest state of cultivation. A 
farmer may raise as many bushels of oats per acre, as 
he can reasonably desire, providing he will manure and 
cultivate his soil as well as it ought to be cultivated. 
If he desires to raise thirty, fifty, seventy, or even one 
hundred, or more bushels, per acre, he may have the 
pleasure, after a few years, of seeing his soil yield that 
amount of grain, provided he wilt only apply his ma- 
nure judiciously, and cultivate the soil thoroughly. In 
case, for example, a soil were a very compact, stubborn, 
calcareous clay, or gravelly clay, or a heavy soil of any 
kind of earth, which is accustomed to bake under the 
influence of drenching rains and scorching sunshine, if 
barn-yard manure be spread thin, the bunches picked 



THE MOST PKOPER TIME TO CUT OATS. 369 

to small pieces before being plowed under, the manure 
will exert a two-fold influence on the crop — a 7nechani- 
cal effect by rendering the heavy ground more porous, 
and a chemical influence, by supplying an abundance 
of such nourishment as is essential to promote the lux- 
uriant growth and abundant fructification of the pan- 
icles. The most satisfactory way of applying barn-yard 
manure to any soil, for the purpose of increasing its 
productiveness, when oats are the principal grain to be 
raised, is to spread and plow it under in late autumn, 
rather than in the spring of the year. 

The most Proper Time to Cut Oats. — For the 
most part, oats are allowed to stand quite too long be- 
fore they are cut. And in most instances, they are al- 
lowed to remain in the swaths or in gavels, entirely 
too long. But farmers are improving in their manage- 
ment with oats. A few years ago the practice was to 
allow them to lay in the swath nearly two weeks, be- 
fore they were raked and bound. By this system of 
management, all the straw was spoiled for fodder, and 
large quantities of the grain were wasted by being shelled 
out. Most formers allow their oats to stand until there 
is not a green panicle to be seen in the field. But as 
soon as the chaif on about one-half of the panicles has 
assumed a yellowish hue, then the oats should be cut 
without delay. There may be a few panicles that will 
not be out of the milk at that stage of their growth, 
but if they are allowed to stand longer, more loss will 
be sustained in the shelling of the early and dead-ripe 
oats, than there will be in the shrinkage of those pani- 
cles, that are not out of the milk when the straw is 
cut. There is but little danger of cutting oats too 

24 



370 todd's countey homes. 

early, while on the contrary, there is great danger of 
letting them stand too long before they are cut. Early 
cut oats are heavier per bushel, fairer to the eye, and 
will sell for more money in the market. 

The most expeditious way to harvest oats is to 
gather them without binding. They will occupy a 
little more space in a barn, than they will if they be 
bound in bundles. But two men will harvest more 
than twice as many oats, by gathering them loose as 
we do hay, and by using a horse-fork to pitch them off 
the wagon with, than they will be able to gather if 
they bind them in bundles. In case a man has but 
little barn-room in j^roportion to the quantity of straw, 
the best way is to build a stack on each side of the 
barn-doors, and run the straw into the barn, when the 
grain is thrashed. Then, the straw will be well pre- 
served for fodder in the winter. A great many of 
our best farmers, in our grain-growing regions, have 
adopted this practice, instead of throwing the straw all 
out of doors, and allowing their barns to remain empty 
during most of the season, when they would be very 
useful in protecting straw for fodder. 

How TO Save Seed Oats. — Few farmers, compara- 
tively, ever think of saving seed oats, until about the 
time when they are ready for putting in the seed in 
the spring. I have no hesitation in affirming that 
many farmers might increase the amount of their oats 
per acre, full one-half, by exercising that care in saving 
the seed that they bestow on their Indian corn seed. 
Can we expect that these little, half-grown, half-ripe, 
shrunken kernels of oats, will produce large, early, and 
heavy panicles of grain next season ? Such a thing 



OBTAINING GOOD SEED. 371 

cannot be expected, any more than one could expect 
to raise a beautiful and noble horse from a stallion that 
was an ill-begotten, ill-shapen and degenerate progeny 
of a worthless breed. 

Now, in order to have good seed, select about an 
acre or so of the very best oats in the field, and cut 
them as soon as the largest kernels in the earliest 
panicles are well matured. At this time most of the 
small panicles will be just in the milk. But such grain 
will not be lost, as they will make excellent feed for 
any kind of stock next winter. As soon as the straw 
is well cured, let the oats be secured in the barn and 
kept by themselves, and thrashed with flails. If 
thrashed with a machine, all the half-ripe kernels will 
also be shelled. But flails will only beat off the ma- 
tured and early kernels. Let this grain be kept by 
itself, and a very marked difference will be seen in the 
yield of the first crop. Let this system of improving 
seed be followed up for a few seasons, and the yield 
will soon be nearly doubled, 

Oats an Exhausting Crop. — It cannot be main- 
tained that the crop of oats does not exhaust and im- 
poverish the soil, for common sense as well as science 
teaches us that every crop that is removed divests that 
soil of as much grain-forming material as was consumed 
in the production of the crop. Therefore, if a soil be 
wet or badly cultivated, and it yield only a small crop 
of oats, of course the land will be impoverished but lit- 
tle. But if the crop be a bountiful one, it is clear that 
more of the grain-forming material will be abstracted 
from the soil than was taken up in the production of 
only a small crop. The oat crop will not absorb much 



372 todd's country homes. 

of the material that would render it productive for a 
crop of barley, or wheat, or Indian corn. For this 
reason, some soils, that have been well-nigh ruined for 
raising oats, have produced excellent crops of barley 
and wheat, after having been summer-fallowed. Such 
instances occurred, however, on good wheat land, and 
not on such ground as was well adapted to oats. In 
some sections of the country oats are sowed for many 
successive seasons, under the imjDression that a crop of 
this kind of grain will exhaust the fertility of the land 
less, and at the same time yield more profit than any 
other cereal, all of which is nearly correct. Neverthe- 
less, oats or any other crop will exhaust the fertility of 
the land. And as the oat-j)lants are such gross feeders, 
land can be impoverished more in ten years by raising 
oats than wheat, as wheat will not grow on poor ground, 
while oats will. All good farmers, who have brought 
the fertility of their land up to the capacity of a good 
wheat soil, feel assured that oats are always a severe 
crop, and an excellent farmer, of my acquaintance, 
never permits oats to grow on good wheat land, but 
confines the crop to the more moist portions of his 
farm, adapted only to oats to meadow and to pasture. 

How TO Rake and Bind. — Rakers and binders 
make such distressed work, that I herewith illustrate 
how a binder should hold his rake and take hold of his 
band. Many binders make so many unnecessary mo- 
tions, that even when laboring very hard, they make 
but little progress. But, by taking hold of the band 
7'ight, without letting it loose, to change the hold, one 
can bind much faster than to adopt all the awkward 
manipulations that can be thought of When I was 



HOW TO RAKE AND BIND. 



373 



fourteen years old, I could, and often did do it, when 
my father did not forbid it, rake and bind alone after 
a good cradler in wheat, and bind every sheaf neatly. 
But now, two large men will grunt terribly, when 
doing the same work. After the band is made, throw 




it over the gavel with the right hand, and receive it 
with the left hand, as shown. Then, when the ends 
are brought together, the hands need not be changed. 
Always keep the rake-handle leaning against the shoul- 
ders, when binding. If a man throws his rake down, 
and must stoop to pick it up every time he binds a sheaf. 



374 todd's country homes. 

if he binds a thousand sheaves in a day — which is a 
fair day's work — he must endure the unnecessary 
fatigue of stooping down, and rising a thousand times, 
when all that fatigue can be avoided, as well as not, 
by simply training one's self to lean the rake-handle 
against the shoulder, when binding a sheaf 

When raking gavels, a raker should exercise skill in 
keeping the butts as even as practicable, so that the 
sheaves, when bound, may not look 
like a long six-foot Irish woman, 
with all her skirts, except the chemi- 
sette, turned lower ends up over 
her head. The illustration herewith 
given, shows a representation of 
a sheaf of oats, raked neatly, and 
^ bound tightly near the middle. 
Let all other grain be bound in the 
A SHEAF OF OATS. g^me ucat manner. 

NEATLY BOUND. 

THE CULTIVATION OF RYE. 
" When the coohng breezes fan us, 'neath the summer's sky, 
O, the merriment of harvesters, while cradling the rye. 
How the reapers and the binders, 'mid the tall grain bending sigh, 
Shout the joyful song of harvest, as they gather in the rye." 

Edwards. 

Rye is one of the grasses. The botanical name is 
Secale cereale. Rye is one of the cereals. The lutbit 
of the rye-plant is exactly like that of the wheat-plant. 
The growings plants tiller quite as much as wheat, and 
the manner of growth is identical with wheat. We 
have, like wheat, both winter rye, and spring rye, and 
white rye and brown rye. Herewith is given a repre- 
sentation of a head of rye, badly affected with the 
disease known as ergot. Rye is much hardier than 




THE CULTURE OF RYE. 



375 



wheat, and land that is so impoverished that it will not 
produce any wheat worth harvesting, will grow a fair 
crop of rye. I have seen many fields 
of light-colored sand in New Jersey, 
where rye had been raised for nine 
successive years. No other croj) 
could be grown on such fields, as 
the ground was so poor. The facil- 
ity with which rye can be raised, 
has been exceedingly detrimental to 
much good land. When wheat could 
no longer be grown with profit, rye 
took its place ; and as it would 
yield remunerative crops without 
manure, land has been sowed to this 
grain with no other rotation than 
grass, until it would not pay for plow- 
ing. It is still a common practice, 
notwithstanding the inroad new ideas 
have made, to turn up old pastures 
and exhausted meadows, and sow 
with rye without manure. A crop 
of ten or fifteen bushels will about 
pay expenses ; and many farmers 
are satisfied with this scanty yield. 
Rye will endure abuse and gross 
mismanagement, with far less injury, 
than any other kind of cereal graiii. 
There can be no more satisfactory 
test of the hardiness of rye, than the 
manner in which it has been abused head of diseased rte. 
on poor farms, where no other crop of grain could be 



376 TODD S COUNTEY HOMES. 

produced. Spring rye is not cultivated so extensively 
as winter rye, simply because old farmers have got 
in the habit of sowing winter grain. Rye is as suscep- 
tible of improvement as wheat or barley, and a few 
years of careful cultivation from select seed would 
give us improved varieties unquestionably much bet- 
ter than anything we now have. All the suggestions 
touching wheat are quite as applicable to rye. This 
grain is little cultivated in regions well adapted to 
those more valuable and of more general use. It 
belongs more properly to cold, heavy highlands, where 
Indian corn is in yearly danger from frosts at both 
ends of the season, and grass is the main crop. If 
grown exclusively for the grain it is an unpleasant and 
some^^Jlat expensive crop to handle, on account of 
the bulkiness of straw, and the grain itself does not 
bring a comparatively high price in the market. But 
the straw is far more valuable than that of any of the 
cereals. The farmer has many uses for it. For thatch- 
ino- purposes it excels, and a roof of this* material well 
put on, wiiriast twenty-five or thirty years. Rye straw 
is excellent for cutting and mixing with more nutritious 
food, and for many purposes around the farm it is con- 
venient, particularly for binding short oats, flax or corn- 
stalks. 

Rye is subject to fewer casualties than any other 
crop, though it is sometmies affected by rust. The 
straw is bright and strong, which renders it better than 
wheat straw, both for feeding out in winter, and as a 
litter for horses and cattle. Rye is usually ready to cut 
before winter-wheat — hence out of the way before the 
hurrying season of harvest. Any soil that is not wet, 



SEEDING ERGOT IN RYE. 377 

if it will produce any other grain, will yield a fair crop 
of rye. But it will not flourish satisfactorily on wet 
ground. 

Preparation for Seeding. — The same preparation 
of soil required for a crojD of wheat, will produce ex- 
cellent rye. Therefore, the reader may peruse what is 
said under wheat, for any further information touch- 
ing the cultivation of rye. On rich ground, I have 
seen large fields of heavy rye, much of which would 
measure over six feet. I have often measured rye 
straws over seven feet in length. A farmer in New 
Jersey assured me that from one kernel of white rye, 
a stool of over seventy spears and perfect heads were 
produced. This fact affords a fair idea of the habit of 
tillering. Another farmer in Massachusetts raised from 
one kernel, sixty-one heads of rye, and the average 
length of the straws was five feet and two inches. The 
average number of kernels per head was sixty, mak- 
ing about three thousand six hundred and sixty fold. 
About one bushel, or one and one-half bushels of seed 
will be sufficient for seeding one acre, if the seed is 
drilled in evenly. 

Ergot in Rye. — The illustration on page 375, fur- 
nishes a fair representation of the chief disease to which 
growing rye is subject. The presence of ergot is not 
traced to any peculiarity of soil or season. Sometimes 
ergot is very abundant, and at others the grain is en- 
tirely free from it. Nor is it confined to rye, for several 
grasses are similarly affected, and it is said to have been 
found in wheat, though the latter rarely occurs. Only 
one or two grains in the head may be affected in this 
way, or it may be the case with every one. Though 



378 todd's countet homes. 

it bears no resemblance to the grain of rye, it is really 
a kernel, much changed by the attack of a minute mi- 
croscopic fungus or mold. This attacks the grain when 
very young, and causes it to finally present the appear- 
ance shown in the engraving, which represents the ergot 
as it appears on the head, and also two separate grains. 
The ergot is often nearly an inch long, and having 
somewhat the shape of a cock's spur, the name ^^ spurred 
rye"" has been given to it. The ergot has a blackish 
purple color, and although no odor is noticeable in a 
single grain, when a quantity is together, this poison- 
ous fungus has a very unpleasant smell. When the 
grain is thus diseased, it not only takes on an unnatu- 
ral shape and appearance, but its chemical character is 
also altered. The grain no longer contains starch, but 
in its place is found a large quantity (over 30 per cent.] 
of a peculiar oil, and instead of being a nutritious food, 
it is a powerful poison. In some parts of Europe, 
where rye is much more extensively used for food than 
with us, fearful epidemics have been caused by ergot 
being mixed with the food. Serious convulsions, loss 
of sight, gangrene, or mortification of the limbs, and 
death, have resulted from its use. For this reason, ex- 
treme care should be used in separating the ergot from 
the seed, previous to seeding. And, when rye is ground 
into meal, all the ergot should he removed from the 
grain, as only a small quantity ground into meal will 
cause a brood mare to slink, or a cow or sheep to abort. 
Let wood ashes, coal ashes, and lime be piled on in 
liberal abundance, after the seed has been drilled in, 
and very little ergot will appear. If rye is disposed to 
be afflicted very much with ergot, it will be well to 



CULTIVATION OF CLOVER. 379 

procure seed of some excellent farmer who cultivates 
bountiful crops of rye on sandy loam soils, as the seed 
produced where sand predominates, will be less liable 
to be affected by this disease. 

CULTIVATION OF CLOVER— TRIFOLIUM. 

" Of these have nameless poets sung, 
The meadow, lawn, and garden over, 
The rich perfumes that always blow. 
From waving fields of ripening clover." 

Clover — botanically speaking — is not one of the 
grasses, although it is called a grass, and is cultivated 
for grazing as well as for hay. Clover is denominated 
by botanists a leguminous plant, and is arranged by 
them among what are termed amelio7Xithig crops, under 
the head of peas, beans, and other leguminous plants. 
There are various kinds of clover, all arranged under 
the head of Trifolium. As every variety produces, as 
a rule, three leaves, they receive the name Trifolium. 
To distinguish one from another, we have the Trifolium 
repens, the white clover, sometimes known as the white 
Dutch clover, the seed of which fs usually imported. 
The Trifolium hyhridimi is know^n as the Alsike clover, 
which is said to be a cross between Trifolium repens 
and Trifolium pratense. Trifolium pratense is what is 
commonly known as the red clover, wdiether it is the 
large or the small variety. In some sections of country, 
the Scotch clover. Crimson clover and French clover 
are cultivated, some of which — perhaps all — are the 
Trifolium incarnatwn. 

Red Clover, ( Trifolium pratense.) — The " pea- vine" 
clover, the large, late, red clover, and the small variety 
of early clover, all belong to the Trifolium. Many 
intelligent farmers will insist that there is a medium, 



380 todd's countky homes. 

kind — neither large nor small, early nor late. But it 
has never been my good fortune to meet with this kind. 
I have met with w^hat has been denominated the 
medium kind ; but I was satisfied that it was nothing 
but either the early or the late, changed in its habit by 
different management and different cultivation and 
locality. Red clover — both the large and the small 
kinds — have been called biennial, triennial, and per- 
ennial. Red clover is quite peculiar in this respect. 
Sometimes it will appear to be a true biennial, so that 
scarcely a stem will appear after the second year; and 
in some localities it will hold out during three years ; 
and sometimes clover will continue in the soil for 
several successive years. But all these diflerences can 
be accounted for on principles strictly philosophical. 
If red clover be pastured rather closely from year to 
year, and is not permitted to form seed ; or if it be 
mowed early, before the seed has matured, if the soil 
be in a good state of cultivation and not too wet, clover 
will grow there for 'many years. But after clover has 
been allowed to mature one crop of good seed, it may 
produce another crop, and it may not. I have known 
clover to produce two crops of seed in two successive 
seasons; and I have also known clover to produce 
one crop of seed, and the next season there would not 
be a growth sufficient to shade one-fourth part of the 
ground. Red clover will flourish well on almost any 
kind of soil where there is not an excess of moisture. 
Of course, it will grow much more luxuriantly on rich 
and well-drained soils than on poor soils. But a wet 
soil is a very uncongenial place for red clover. Indeed, 
it is folly to attempt to raise it on soils that are too wet 



ALSIKE CLOVER. 381 

for winter-wheat, as the clover-roots will nearly all be 
lifted out by the freezing and thawing of the soil. 
Therefore, the young farmer should bear in mind that, 
unless his soil is ^naturally dry enough, it must be well 
under-drained before it can be expected to produce a 
tolerably fair crop of red clover. 

The large and late variety, called in some sections 
of the country the northern clover, or j^ea-vine clover, 
will give but a small after-growth. Therefore if seed 
is wanted, it must be obtained from the first growth, 
or first blossoming. 

The early, or small kind, or as it is sometimes called, 
the " Southern clover," is short and fine, being a capital 
winter fodder for sheep, milch cows and young cattle. 
The best variety for plowing under, for the purpose 
of renovating impoverished lands, is the large and late 
kind. For early forage, the eai'ly, or small variety is 
preferable. 

Alsike Clover. {Trifolium Hyhridum.) — The Al- 
sike clover, is a variety which appears, to a certain ex- 
tent, to combine the properties of the red and white 
clovers. It was considered by Linna3us to be a cross, 
and is cultivated to a considerable extent in the district 
of Alsike, in Sweden, from whence it derives its name. 
The stems are small, yielding a large amount of branch- 
es, leaves and blossoms, wdiich afford a large amount 
of honey for bees. For winter feed for sheep, I think 
no better forage plant can be grown, when cultivated 
with orchard grass, than the Alsike clover. A striking 
peculiarity of this clover is, there are, in some of the 
glumes, two, three and four seeds each. I have seen 
some glumes with four seeds. All kinds of clover seed 



382 todd's country homes. 

may be obtained at seed stores in our large cities. In 
many localities, farmers state that the Alsike is not 
lifted out of the ground by frost, so readily as the red 
clover, and that it flourishes much more satisfactorily 
on wet land than red clover. A good farmer who has 
cultivated the Alsike, writes me as follows : 

The weight of seed required to be sown is, according to circumstances, 
from three to four pounds per acre, the seed being much smaller, and 
branches more, a less quantity is required than of the red clover. Three 
pounds of Alsike seed will seed as much land as ten pounds of red clo- 
ver. I sowed last spring three and one-half pounds per acre, and it is 
thicker than necessary. The seed is sown at the usual time of sowing 
common or red clover on wheat, oats or barley. It generally yields from 
three to eight bushels of seed per acre. The heads are formed with pods 
like the common white clover, with several seeds in each pod. I have 
tried the Alsike by the side of red clover, the seed sown at the same time 
and in the same field, and find that horses, cattle and sheep, will not 
graze on the red clover so long as they can get a good bite on the Alsike. 
My opinion is no other clover is equal to it for the purpose of feeding 
cattle, sheep, and horses, and even as a fertilizer. Alsike clover-seed is 
more easily threshed than red clover-seed. When cultivated and threshed 
together, the Alsike clover-seed always comes out of the pods before the 
red clover-seed. The ripened seed-heads of Alsike clover, however, fall 
off easier than that of red clover, and therefore in mowing Alsike clover 
that has been allowed to ripen, still greater care must be taken than with 
the seed of red clover. 

Crimson Clover. — This variety is cultivated, at the 
present writing, only in certain localities. It possesses 
all the excellent characteristics of the early red clover. 
Indeed, I have sometimes thought that this is earlier. 
The stalks are fine, the heads long and cylindrical, yield- 
ing more seed per acre, than the red clover. The 
beautiful crimson color of the blossoms imparts a de- 
lightful appearance to a large field, when the plants 
are in full bloom. I am familiar with fields in New 



WHITE CLOVEK. 383 

Jersey, on which this kind of clover was mowed three 
times, in one season, and the green clover fed to cat- 
tle in the yard. And after the third mowing, a young 
crop appeared sufficiently large for good grazing. 
Judging from what I have seen of it, I am inclined 
to esteem" this variety as superior to the early red, for 
making early grass, either for grazing, or for soiling. 
The roots of this clover seem to spread out more like 
grass, and do not strike so deep into the soil as the red 
clover. The cultivation is in all respects similar to the 
culture of red clover. 

White Clover, (Trifolium repens.J — There are 
several varieties of white clover, or of clover which 
bears white blossoms. But the common white or 
Dutch variety which is indigenous in this country, 
and is partial to those soils containing a liberal admix- 
ture of argillaceous or clayey matter, and which from 
their constitutional conformation, are naturally moist 
and cool. On lands of this description, it rarely fails 
to show itself after the application of lime or ashes, 
or, indeed, after a dressing of sheep manure, or any 
other substance congenial to its nature. As white 
clover grows late in the season, the seed is never 
sowed separately by itself, but in conjunction with 
aspiring grasses. As excellent herbage for pastures, 
it is superior to all other kinds of clover, as it forms a 
thick luxuriant sod. In shady situations, as in orchards, 
or in the shadows of ornamental trees and shrubbery, 
white clover flourishes with great luxuriance. In such 
situations, the application of gypsum, lime, ashes, oys- 
ter-shell manure, or bone-dust, will induce a luxuriant 
development. Mixed with early red clover, or with 



384 todd's countkt homes. 

red-top, white clover makes a most desirable food for 
all descriptions of stock. 

Management of Red Clovek for Seed. — When 
the chief object is to raise a crop of seed, whether the 
clover is grazed or mowed off, it ought always to be 
done in the month of June, in our latitude, and previ- 
ous to the full bloom. It is not practicable to raise a 
good burden of hay and a crop of seed on the same 
ground in one season from the large and late kind ; 
nor can one expect a full yield of seed, if the first 
growth be grazed too long. If the large, or late kind 
of red clover be allowed to stand until it is in full 
bloom, before it is cut, there will be only a small crop 
of seed. The most successful way of managing this 
kind of red clover is, to pasture it until about the 15th 
or 20th of June; in New England, or New York, never 
later than the 20th of the month. It has been my own 
practice to feed it down close just before shutting the 
animals off altogether ; and if there was more clover 
than they could graze off, close to the ground, in a few 
days, the remainder was mowed, and usually left where 
it grew. And our most successful seed growers adoj)t 
this practice. The object in mowing off all the stalks 
that the stock leave, is to have all the clover start the 
second time as evenly as possible, grow uniformly, and 
all plants come to maturity at the same time, which is 
very essential. The seed on the portions of the field 
where the first growth has not been cut off, will come 
to maturity several weeks before the greater part of 
the crop is fit to cut. Consequently, most of it will 
shell off and be lost, before the remainder can be se- 
cured. Many farmers, in their first attempts to raise 



MANAGEMENT OF RED CLOVER. 385 

the seed of the large kind of red clover, obtain only a 
small crop, simply because the first growth was allowed 
to advance too far. In growing a crop of seed of the 
early, or small kind of red clover, the usual practice is 
to make hay of the first growth, though it is sometimes 
grazed off. Those who raise the largest crops of seed, 
cut the first time before the crop is in full bloom. 
They find this essential and aim to cut when about 
two-thirds of the heads are in blossom. The stalks 
and leaves will be very green at this stage, but every 
day it is allowed to stand after this, tends to diminish 
the quantity of seed. Consequently, when a farmer 
thinks best to allow the first crop of clover to come 
nearer maturity, for the purpose of having a greater 
burden of hay, he must remember that he will lose 
more in the yield of seed, than he will gain in the 
quality and quantity of hay aftbrded by the first 
growth of the clover. If there be any weeds among 
clover, they should all be cut close to the ground, so 
that the clover will get the start of them and effect- 
ually suppress their growth. 

I once had two. pieces of clover as nearly equal in 
every respect, as we could perceive, one of which was 
cut for hay, before all the heads were in blossom, and 
before any of them began to turn brown, and the 
other was allowed to stand five days longer. In the 
fall, the crop appeared about as good in one piece as 
in the other, so far as large heads and stalks were con- 
cerned. But, after examining the heads for seed, we 
found, that the heads of the first piece were well filled, 
while those of the clover which was mowed after some 
of the first crop of heads began to turn brown, had not 

25 



386 todd's countey homes. 

seed enough in them to pay the expense of getting it 
out. 

This lesson taught me the importance of cutting the 
first growth of clover before the crop has fully blos- 
somed, when the object is a crop of seed in the second 
growth. Such clover will be green as grass, and suc- 
culent as green buckwheat straw ; but the yield of 
seed by cutting it thus green, will be much larger than 
if it be allowed to stand longer. 

Quantity of Clover Seed per Acre. — The least 
possible quantity of red clover seed that will seed an 
acre well, will depend entirely on the condition of the 
soil, both as to its fertility and its mellowness. If half 
a bushel, one bushel, or tw^o bushels of good seed be 
sow^ed per acre, although it may all germinate, there 
will only about so many stems come to maturity. Con- 
sequently, the amount that is sown, over and above 
what can vegetate, will be but little better than thrown 
away. 

A bushel of clover seed weighs, in the Empire State, 
sixty pounds. One quart will weigh nearly two pounds. 
Now, if the soil be in a good, or ev^ia in an ordinary, 
state of fertility, and is not lumpy, but mellow and 
smooth on the surface, four quarts, or about eight 
pounds of good seed will seed an acre well. Indeed, I 
have known only two quarts of red clover seed to be 
sowed on an acre, which seeded the entire ground thor- 
oughly. 

It is a very erroneous idea, that clover, or grass seed 
of any kind, must be sowed very thick. There can be 
nothing gained by it. If the soil be uneven and lumjDy, 
a large projDortion of the seed will be buried so deep, 



EED CLOVER OJS" A BARREN SOIL. _ 387 

by the dissolving of lumps of earth, and by falling into 
depressions and cracks, that the seed will never grow, 
although it may germinate. And, if it does germinate, 
and there is not space for it to grow, where is the ad- 
vantage of sowing a large quantity of seed, of any 
kind, that cannot grow, after it has vegetated ? The 
surface of the soil should be very fine and mellow. 
Then, half the usual quantity of seed will cover the 
surface with a satisfactory sod. 

The yield of seed, per acre, will depend wholly on 
the cultivation and management. I have known pretty 
good farmers to get only one bushel per acre. Then, 
again, I have known others to harvest over seven bush- 
els . of beautiful seed per acre, from several acres. 
Seven bushels of plump seed, is a large yield. Thre6 
or four bushels per acre are considered a fair crop. 

How TO Grow Red Clover on a Barren Soil. 
— There are thousands of acres of land, that are not 
wet, where much good management will be indis- 
pensably necessary in order to make clover seed vege- 
tate and mature even a very stinted growth. I have 
met with many fields on our lake slopes, and river 
slopes, where the soil was too poor — naturally — before 
it had ever been plowed, to produce anything but 
small mulleins, and a few other noxious plants. And, 
if grass seed were sowed there, it would not grow ; 
because there is not vegetable matter enough in the 
soil to feed even a small crop of grass. 

There are two ways — both of which are reliable — for 
producing a crop of red clover on such soils. Let the 
soil be well plowed in autumn, with fine, narrow furrow 
slices ; and the next spring, as soon as the ground is 



388 todd's country homes. 

warm and dry, sow about one bushel of rye per acre, 
and harrow it well. Then sow four pounds of red clo- 
ver seed, of the large kind, and four or more pounds 
of timothy seed. 

The object in not plowing it, is to keep the fine soil 
which the rains and frosts of winter have rendered more 
mellow, on the surface, where it will form a nice seed- 
bed for the young and tender grass-seed. Let the rains 
cover the seed instead of the harrow. In case there 
is no manure, or no muck, or vegetable matter to aid 
and j^romote the growth af the young plants, this sys- 
tem of management will prove successful. Let a few 
bushels of ashes, gypsum and lime be sowed, per acre. 

After the rye has headed out, let all the heads be cut 
off with a grass * scythe, and let them decay on the 
ground. Let the stubble remain as high as possible, to 
protect the young clover from the scorching sunshine. 

The object of clipping off the heads of rye, is, to 
prevent the formation of grain, which will exhaust the 
soil. Now, let the clover grow, and keep every animal 
off it, even should it be large, the next autumn. The 
next summer, the clover may be plowed under. 

The next process, with the improvements on the first 
mentioned, is, to plow in autumn, as directed, and, dur- 
ing the winter, give the land a light dressing of com- 
post, or fine barn-yard manure, spread thin and even 
over the entire surface. Then, sow rye in the spring, 
as directed ; harrow it in, and, sow clover and timothy 
in quantities as stated. By applying a top dressing of 
manure, in the winter, and harrowing it thoroughly, in 
the spring, without plowing it, the surface will be 
smooth, mellow and fertile, and, the seed will catch well 



BARLEY HORDEUM DISTICHUM. 389 

and make a luxuriant growth during the season. Three 
or four bushels of gypsum per acre, in addition, and six 
or eight of lime, will pay well. In absence of manure, 
pile up a quantity of sods, from the highway side, until 
they are well decayed, and spread the mellow earth 
very thin over the soil. Or, haul on muck, or alluvium, 
or any soil, or substance, in which there is an abund- 
ance of vegetable matter ; spread it thin, and keep it 
near the surface, by simply harrowing it in. In au- 
tumn, you will, doubtless, be prompted to turn in sheep, 
or cattle to graze. But, it would be far better to pur- 
chase grain and hay for such animals than to allow them 
to crop off the young clover in autumn. The roots will 
need all the benefit that will come from the leaves and 
stems to protect them during winter, and to furnish 
nourishment for them, the next summer. The next 
season, there will be a good crop to plow under. These 
directions will apply equally well to the management 
of Alsike, or crimson clover. In many instances, how- 
ever, the seed of the Alsike will be much smaller than 
other seed. Consequently, a smaller quantity will suf- 
fice for seeding an acre. 

BARLEY— HORDEUM DISTICHUM. 
"'Tis joy to walk in harvest days, near fields of bearded barley ; 
To pluck the fruit, and an ear of wheat, and an ear of bearded barley. 
As they move along, with nestling sounds, with loads of bearded barley." 

Maky Howitt. 

The first mention of barley in sacred history we find 
in Exodus 9 : 31, by which we are assured, that barley 
was raised by the Egyptians, at the time when the 
Lord sent a plague of hail on that nation. Commenta- 
tors tell us, that barley derives its name from the long 
beard that grows upon the ears of that grain. Pliny, 



390 todd's country homes. 

an ancient historian, informs us, on the authority of 
Leander, that barley was the most ancient aUment of 
the human family. His supposition cannot be refuted. 
There is no doubt, that barley was created at the same 
time with wheat, and, that it has been grown, in some 
countries, ever since, where the soil is adapted to the 
production of wheat. Barley-meal will make most 
excellent bread and cakes, and much better food for 
fattening animals, than most people have supposed. 
But, it should always be mingled with other grain, 
and ground into fine meal, for any kind of domestic 
animals. 

The great use to which barley is appropriated in 
many of the oriental countries, and esjoecially in 
America, is, to make malt, for brewing purposes. Both 
Americans and Europeans contract such habits for 
drink, drink, drink, that but little barley is used for 
any other purpose, besides making beer, or some other 
beverage. When the grain is properly burned, as 
coffee is prepared, barley makes an excellent drink. 

The immense increase in the consumption of malt 
liquors of the last few years, and the prospect of a still 
further increase, makes the barley crop one of con- 
stantly growing importance. Our home production 
has not been sufficient to supply the demand, and large 
quantities have been imported during the past year 
from England. Most of the barley raised in Canada 
every year finds its market within the United States, 
and will probably continue to be sold to us for a long 
time to come. In the present state of society, the 
beer-drinkers will, and do, find the barley necessary to 
supply their demands that is raised here or elsewhere. 



VARIETIES OF BARLEY. 391 

and they send gold and silver out of the country to 
purchase whatever quantity our farmers fail to raise 
for them. While the sum total of the beer consumed 
remains as it is now, it is certainly for the best interests 
of the national finances that the money paid for barley 
or malt should be kept within our own boundaries. Bar- 
ley raised in any district that is not well supplied with 
barns to secure it against rain, must always sell to the 
brewers for a low price. Hon. George Geddies, states 
the relative cost of barley and wheat is about as three 
to two ; • that is, three busheis of barley delivered in 
market costs about as much as two bushels of wheat, 
to the grower; with this advantage in favor of the 
barley: In about four months (if threshed immediately 
after harvest,) from the time of sowing the seed, the 
money may be had for the crop, while about eleven 
months will be required to raise and market a crop of 
winter-wheat. 

I am an out-and-out temperance advocate, both in 
eating and drinking. And I will not even write on 
the subject of tobacco, except to denounce its use. 
Intoxicating liquors are made out of Indian corn, rye, 
and oats, as well as barley. But, because tillers of the 
soil raise grain for the food of men and useful animals, 
must moral and religious people give up the cultivation 
of all these products of the soil, because a portion of 
mankind pervert and abuse the proper use of food 
supplies? Tobacco is 7iot food in any shape. There- 
fore, moral and Christian people are decidedly culpable 
for appropriating the use of their best land to the pro- 
duction of a vile, poisonous, hurtful crop — terribly ex- 
hausting to a gooji soil — simply because bad men will 



392 todd's countkt homes. 

pay money for it. If barley would not make excellent 
bread and meal, for all kinds of domestic animals, I 
would not record a paragraph touching its cultivation. 

Varieties of Baeley. — We have winter-barley, 
and three or four kinds of spring-barley. But two of 
these may well be considered the same, so that we 
have left only winter-barley and two varieties of spring, 
that call for any description — the two-rowed and the 
six-rowed. The two-rowed is longer in ripening, giving 
us time to get wheat harvested and out of the way, 
while the six-rowed ripens in the midst of wheat har- 
vest. The six-rowed brings the highest price, usually 
about ten per cent, more than the two-rowed. As a 
general rule, the two-rowed barley is more free from 
smut than the six-rowed; and those who have culti- 
vated both feel assured that the two-rowed is invari- 
ably more productive than the six-rowed. Others 
affirm that the two-rowed stands erect better than the 
six-rowed. 

The great objection to sowing winter-barley is its 
liability to be frozen out, unless the soil has been well 
under-drained and is in a good state of fertility. And 
even then, I have found upon inquiry, that those who 
have practiced raising it, for a few years past, are satis- 
fied that they are almost always surer of a better and 
more abundant crop when spring-barley is cultivated. 
Consequently, most farmers have abandoned raising 
winter-barley. They plow the soil well in autumn, 
and give it a light dressing of manure, and then plow 
the ground again in the spring, and put in spring bar- 
ley. When all circumstances and contingencies are 
taken into consideration, I think that in our latitude it 



IMPOETANCE OF CLEAN SEED. 393 

will be found the safest to sow barley only in the spring 
of the year. There is something to be gained in the 
quality of grain in raising winter-wheat. But we can 
not plead any such advantage or profit in a crop of 
barley, as the spring-barley is quite equal to the winter- 
barley. Winter-barley requires about as good soil, and 
nearly as thorough preparation, as is requisite for a 
crop of winter-wheat. It may do well with less manure 
than wheat. Still, winter-barley will be benefited by 
a light sprinkling of good manure, almost as much as 
wheat. Winter-barley does not give general, satisfac- 
tion, as the young plants must be subjected to all the 
perils of our cold and severe winters. 

I have frequently met with a variety of barley 
denominated the " Skinless-barley," which resembles 
Egyptian wheat. The yield has always seemed to be 
satisfactory. But as buyers are usually afraid of it, 
there seems to be only a home market for it. In cer- 
tain sections of the country, I have met with what is 
called the " Nepaul-barley," which is held in high esti- 
mation. But the seed of this variety is scarce. In 
certain sections of country there is still another variety 
known as the " Emir-barley." 

Importance of Clean Seed. — When barley is 
ground and fed out on the farm, if other grain be min- 
gled with it, the value will not be diminished. But, 
when barley is produced for making malt, if there is 
not one ounce of oats, or buckwheat in a bushel of bar- 
ley, maltsters will not pay as much, per bushel, by five 
to fifteen cents, as if the seed were pure. Oats injure 
the sale of barley, as they are a dead loss when the 
barley is made into malt. Oats and other grain will 



394 todd's country homes. 

not make malt. For this reason, maltsters often dock a 
producer fifteen cents, per bushel, when the oats in the 
barley, if they were all collected and weighed, would 
not be worth half a cent. The correct way to raise 
barley is, to have the entire crop so perfectly free from 
other grain, that it will be difficult to find a kernel of 
any other grain, in a hundred bushels. Farmers who 
produce barley for market, should aim to raise such a 
crop as will be an honor to the tiller of the soil, and to 
produce such grain as is received in the New York 
market from Canada. It will be seen, by the market 
reports, that barley from Canada is usually sold for ten 
to thirty cents per bushel, more than State barley. This 
fact is a disreputable commentary on the management 
of our farmers. In Canada, particular attention is paid 
to the purity and plumpness of the seed. Here, many 
farmers sow anything that passes under the name of 
barley. In Canada, farmers are so careful to keep 
every kernel of oats out of their barley, that they will 
not even feed tlieir teams with oats, when plowing 
and seeding for a crop of this kind of grain. In a few 
localities in this country, the same care is exercised. 
If a farmer has no choice seed, entirely free from oats 
and all other grain, let him send to Canada and pro- 
cure a supply. Then, should there be any small and 
imperfect kernels among the seed, let the whole be 
passed through a fanning-mill, while a heavy blast is 
applied, to blow out every kernel except the largest 
and heaviest. After the seed has been put in, on a 
clean piece of ground, if noxious weeds spring up, 
pull them out of the growing grain. Resolve to do 
one job, if no more, as nearly right as the details can 



PKEPAKATION OF SOIL AND SEEDING. 395 

be performed. Just before the crop has matured, make 
preparations for raising a supply of clean and plump 
seed. If barley must be stored in the same barn with 
oats or wheat, let the barley always be put above other 
grain. Barley will not injure the sale of oats. When 
seed barley is run through a fanning-mill, give a heavy 
blast, to separate all light and small kernels, which will 
be just as good to feed domestic animals, as large and 
plump kernels. Those who raise barley cannot be too 
careful in keeping different varieties separate, as malt- 
sters assure us, that mixed lots will not malt alike. 
Old barley and new will not malt alike. Consequently, 
there must be more or less loss, in the kind that is a lon- 
ger time malting, than most of the kernels. Slovenly 
farmers always experience much difficulty in keeping 
oats from growing with barley. In some way, a few 
oats will get into barley, unless very great care is 
used. By making a brine strong enough to float the 
oats, they may be taken out of the seed ; then by using 
freshly slaked lime, the salt may be decomposed and 
the seed sown without danger of destroying its vitality. 
Pkepakation of Soil and Seeding. — Barley, like 
wheat, must have the advantage of a clean, rich and 
thoroughly prepared soil, whether the ground be heavy 
or light. Wherever a fair crop of wheat can be raised, 
there will be no difficulty in growing a bountiful crop 
of barley, although the most congenial soil for barley is 
a strong loam. When strong clays are used for the 
production of barley, the previous crop should have 
been a hoed one, as corn or roots; and the first plowing 
should take place late in the fall, the land being left 
rough during the winter season, so that the frosts may 



396 todd's countky homes. 

render it friable before spring. If plowed again in the 
spring and well harrowed, cross-harrowed and rolled, 
excellent crops may be obtained even on the heavier 
kinds of soils. In many sections of our country, large 
crops of barley are raised on clover sod. If the land 
is in an excellent state of fertility, and free from foul 
weeds, there will be a heavy yield of grain. When a 
crop of barley is to be raised on old sod ground, it will 
be best to plow it late in the fall, before the barley is to 
be sown, leaving the furrows unharrowed, just as the 
plow left them, for the action of the winter's frosts. 
Early in the spring — as soon as the ground will allow 
the tramping of the teams and the use of tools — har- 
row, and sow the seed. Barley must he sown early, or 
a light crop may be expected. The high price which 
this grain has commanded for the last two or three 
years, and its excellent qualities as a milk-producing 
food for dairy stock, seems to demand for it more gen- 
eral attention than it has yet received. The grain, 
when ground and fed to animals producing milk, is 
considered by many farmers, more valuable than corn. 
It is as good a grain as wheat to seed with for the suc- 
ceeding crop of grass. The number of bushels per 
acre, varies from thirty to sixty, according to circum- 
stances, though from forty to forty-five may be con- 
sidered a bountiful crop. On some farms, sixty bushels 
are produced ; while in many localities, where farmers 
do not maintain the fertility of their land, the product 
is not over twenty bushels per acre. Barley is a good 
crop to follow corn. If the ground has been well 
enriched with manure, it will be just right for the 
barley. Otherwise the ground should have a special 



DRILLING IN" THE SEED. 397 

application of fine manure, well broken and harrowed 
in. Wheat may follow the barley, if the ground re- 
ceives a top-dressing of fine manure in autumn before 
or after the wheat is sown. Or, if the barley is sown 
rather thinly, it is a good crop to seed down with clover 
in the spring of the year. It will be useless to attempt 
to raise a fair crop of barley on a poor thin soil. The 
unsatisfactory success of many cultivators of late years, 
or, as it is commonly termed, the deterioration of the 
crop, is owing to a deficiency in the proper preparation 
of the soil and the seed. Exhausted or poor land will 
not answer; and the soil must be in a state of fine pul- 
verization. The seed should be sown very early in the 
spring, provided the ground can be well prepared. 
Sometimes late autumn plowing, with the use of the 
horse-cultivator in the spring, has been found to suc- 
ceed well on dry soils. But my own experience is 
decidedly in favor of plowing the barley ground again 
in the spring, after it was broken up in late autumn. 
A crop of barley should constitute one of the principal 
crops in a four or five years' rotation. 

The usual quantity of seed sown per acre is from 
one and one-half to two bushels. I have known some 
farmers to put in three bushels per acre. But if the 
seed is clean, and the soil rich and properly prepared, 
two bushels will be a sufficient quantity per acre. 

Drilling in the Seed. — I am aware that not a few 
fancy farmers who know more than men of extensive 
experience in raising all kinds of grain, state, that they 
would not have barley drilled in, if a person would do 
it gratuitously. I know, from long experience that, it 
is far better to drill in the seed. George Geddes one 



398 todd's country homes. 

of the best farmers of the Empire State, writes : " Two 
bushels of seed are enough for an acre. I would 
rather sow less than more. We sow with the drill, 
because we thus plant the seeds at the uniform depth of 
about two inches; and we finish the work as we go 
along;. It is no more work to drill an acre than it is 
to harrow it; and the drill leaves the ground lighter 
than does a harrow." I have always found that barley 
when drilled in, will yield a much larger number of 
bushels per acre than when the seed is sown broadcast 
and harrowed in. 

The reason for the difference in the yield may be 
thus explained : When the seed is harrowed in, a large 
proportion of it will be buried too deep by the feet of 
heavy teams. Consequently, the growth of those 
stems which spring from the seed buried too deep, will 
be too feeble to maintain an equal position with the 
barley on each side. Of course the product will be 
less than if every stem had an equal chance to develop. 
When the seed is drilled in, nearly every kernel is 
buried at a uniform depth. And more than this, the 
seed is distributed over the field more evenly, than 
any man can scatter it by hand. 

The proper depth for burying the seed is an im- 
portant consideration, when drilling it in. The seed 
of winter-barley should not be covered over one inch 
deep, so that a large proportion of the roots may spread 
out near the surface of the ground, and thus form a 
kind of fibrous matting, which will rise and settle back 
as the surface of the ground freezes and thaws. This 
will prevent the young plants being lifted out by the 
frost. Spring-barley, if the soil be heavy, should be 



WHEN TO HARVEST BAELET. 399 

put in not over two inches deep. One inch will be 
better. But if the ground be light, mellow and porous, 
four inches deep will be better than two, as the young 
plants will get a firmer hold in the soil, which will 
enable them to withstand the injurious influences of 
dry weather better than if the plants were rooted near 
the surface. To kill the smut, steep the seed one day 
in a moderately strong brine containing some blue 
vitriol; then roll it in lime or plaster, just before the 
grain is put in. 

When to Harvest Barley. — 

They take the sickle from the barn, when morning dews shine pearly ; 
And the mower whets the ringing scythe, to cut the bearded barley. 

Mart Howitt. 

Most farmers allow their barley to stand too long 
before cutting it. The cutting should not be deferred 
until every ear appears fully ripe. Barley is ripe when 
the red roan, as the farmers term it, meaning a reddish 
color on the ear, is gone off; or when the ears droop 
and fall, as it were, double against the straw, and the 
stalks have lost their verdure. But in the latter case 
it is too ripe. When barley is cut in the striped state, 
the skin is thinner, the grain is said to sprout quicker 
and more vigorously, is preferred by maltsters, and will 
bring a higher price in the market than if it had been 
allowed to become dead ripe. If cut even two or three 
days too early, the berry shrinks very badly. If 
allowed to stand a few days after it is in condition to 
cut, the stalk bends over, and the head points toward 
the ground, and the straw being short and limber, in a 
little time the head will be so low that the reaping 
machine will cut the straw twice in two, dropping 
many of the ears on the earth, where no rake can 



400 todd's country homes. 

gather them. Thus the grain will be lost, unless har- 
vested almost the day it is in proper condition. In 
this country, there is no necessity for seeking early 
ripening barley, as our convenience is promoted by 
having our barley harvest as late as our seasons will 
allow. This is the principal reason why our farmers 
prefer to raise the two-rowed, to the six-rowed. The 
two-rowed does not ripen so early as the six-rowed, 
and the barley harvest will not come in the time of 
wheat harvest. Though the six-rowed is worth the 
most per bushel, and sometimes produces more bushels 
to the acre than does the two-rowed, it must be har- 
vested at the same time as the wheat; and if it is not 
cut just at the right time, great loss in the value of the 
grain must be sustained. Barley is almost always fit 
to cut, while there is a greenish lustre on the straw. 
As soon as the grain has passed the " dough state," let 
the crop be cut. Barley should be cut when ripe 
enough to prevent shrinking. 
How TO Harvest Barley. — 

" Some mow it, and rake it and put it in cocks, 
Or cradle and bind it, and set it in shocks." 

Tom Tusser. 

If barley stands up satisflictorily and the straw is of 
sufficient length to make bands, the neatest way to 
harvest the crop is, to cradle it, or cut it with a reaper 
and bind it in sheaves. Then, set the sheaves in shocks, 
and cover them with hay caps, in lowery and wet weather. 
There is no better way to harvest barley than this, and 
yet it is the most laborious way. When gathered in 
this manner, the grain will be as bright as the kernels 
can be. The crop should be bound up at once, and put 
into shocks to protect it from the weather until it is 



HOW TO HARVEST BAELEY. 401 

ready to be carted to the barn. The grain is almost 
invariably threshed out by machinery, and in some in- 
stances, barley is threshed in the field. But, as the 
straw, when harvested without being exjDOsed to much 
rain, makes such excellent fodder, my own practice 
always has. been, to gather the crop under shelter, or 
thresh out the grain and secure the straw as soon as 
practicable. It will pay to employ hay caps for cover- 
ing the stooks, or barley-cocks, in stormy weather. It 
is of eminent importance that all possible precautions 
be taken to prevent the grain from being stained, by 
exposure to storms and dews. When barley is not 
bound, it should not be allowed to remain longer than 
a few hours, in the swath, especially if the grain is not 
fully matured. When barley is to be cut with a ma- 
chine, and dropped in gavels, a self-raking reaper is by 
far the best implement to cut barley. Allow the rakes 
to run so as to cast the grain into small gavels. There 
let them remain until fit for the barn in all ordinary 
seasons. If showers come, the grain will dry off in 
such gavels as well as anywhere, and the water will 
run so quickly through them, that the grain will be 
less stained than it would be in cocks. As soon as the 
grain is fit to cart to the barn, gather it in winrows 
with a wheel-rake having long sweeping steel teeth. 
An active boy can rake in this way more than eight 
men with hand-rakes. Drive the wagons between two 
winrows, and with proper forks pitch on the barley, 
draw it to the barn and with a horse-fork remove it to 
the mow. Let the crop remain in the mow till all sweat 
has passed from it. This process of harvesting involves 
the minimum of labor, and most of what is required is 

26 



402 todd's country homes. 

performed by horses and improved machinery. This 
is decidedly the cheapest and most expeditious manner 
of harvesting a crop of barley. In case frequent show- 
ers fall before the crop can be stored, the gavels must 
be turned over and shaken uj), once a day, to prevent 
injury of the grain. In many instances, there will be 
a thick growth of green herbage in the butt ends of 
the gavels. Let them be shaken up and turned over, 
two or three times daily, if the sun shines, and breezes 
blow. Then, as soon as the green stems and leaves are 
cured, the crop may be carted to the barn. 

When barn room is scarce, let the barley be stacked 
near the barn. Then, let the straw drop on the barn 
floor, as the grain is thrashed, and pitch it with a horse- 
fork to any part of the building. Every farmer wdio 
raises barley ought to exercise as much care in curing 
and housing the straw, as if it were grass. Barley 
straw that has been bleached to death, will make very 
poor fodder for any animals. 

Cocking Barley so as to carry off Rain. — 
"Water, when left free to flow, will always run down 
hill. Now, if we extend a number of long straws over 
anything, giving them an inclination of forty-five de- 
grees or more, they will carry ofl" all the water. When 
they cross each other, the drops of water will pass from 
one straw to another. The water will run the way the 
straws slant. This consideration is of great practical 
importance in building stacks of every kind, and in 
cocking hay, barley and every other kind of grain, 
when it is an object of any importance to carry the 
rain off the cocks, instead of conducting it inwards 
toward the middle. If barley be properly cocked, it 



COCKING BARLEY. 403 

will stand a very hard rain, without being wet but very 
little ; whereas, if it be thrown together in a hap-hazard 
manner, almost every straw will be wet through the 
entire cock, during an ordinary shower. If the cocks 
are to be covered with hay-caps during a shower, it 
matters little how the bunches of barley are placed. 
But in case barley must remain in the cock during a 
storm, unprotected by caps, it should be so cocked that 
it will shed rain. If the straw is long, the cocks should 
be about one-third larger in diameter than the length 
of the straw. Then we should always endeavor to 
keep the middle the highest, by placing the heads near 
the middle of the cock, with the straw slanting in a 
direction to carry the rain from the middle. Let the 
cocks be "trimmed up," as we usually say, by raking 
them oif smooth, and forming a very conical top. Now, 
take a gavel of short barley and spread it over the top 
of a cock, by walking entirely round it, placing the 
straws in such a position that they will conduct the 
rain away from the middle of the cock. The rain will 
be conducted along the straws, if they have a little in- 
clination, so that the greater proportion of the water 
that falls — unless it should rain very hard — will all be 
conducted off, and the barley will be wet but little. 
But when a good portion of the straw slants inwards 
towards the middle of the cock, the water will be con- 
ducted inwards, and the cocks will be well saturated 
with water, through and through. As a consequence, 
the grain will be stained ; and a farther result will be, 
the producer will be obliged to accept five, ten, or 
fifteen cents per bushel less, than if the same grain had 
been bright. 



404 todd's countey homes. 

Thrashing Barlet. — If one has a machine of his 
own, there is no better way to manage the crop than 
to thrash the grain as it is drawn from the field. Bar- 
ley can be run through a two-horse railway thrashing- 
machine almost as fast as one man can pitch it from 
the wagon. Besides this, if barley is stored in a barn 
with oats or wheat, it will be almost impossible to keep 
it from the barley, which will always injure the sale. 
Buyers and maltsters want to see nothing but the clean 
grain. A few oats or a little buckwheat will often 
damage the producer, in price, ten to fifteen cents per 
bushel. Great care should be exercised in adjusting 
the spikes of the machine, so that they will not crack 
the kernels, as every broken kernel is worse than de- 
stroyed for the maltster. All such grain will not sprout; 
but the kernels will mould, rot, and injure the beer. 
Clean the grain well, and if no weeds were grown w^ith 
the crop, and carried into the mow to stain the barley, 
and it was not severely wet in harvest, clean seed 
having been used, the best price will be received for 
the grain. If the grain be thrashed in a few days 
after the crop was cut, let it be spread on a floor, not 
more than one foot deep, to cure. When thrashing 
barley, in order to clear the grains of the short beard, 
it was formerly the common practice to give it a second 
pounding with a flail. But now, the same end is ac- 
complished by passing H a second time through the 
thrashing-machine . 

Making Malt. — Malt is made by sprouting and 
drying the barley. The grain is first steeped in large 
reservoirs, forty-eight to sixty hours. It is then re- 
moved to a floor, where every kernel sends out a sys- 



BAKLET AND FLAX. 405 

tern of roots, several inches long. But, before the germs 
have protruded, the germinating process is arrested. 
This is called couching. The object is to develop a sac- 
charine principle. As soon as the grain is sufficiently 
germinated, and the saccharine principle is developed 
properly, the barley is spread out thin, on a metallic 
floor, and kiln dried by the application of artificial 
heat, during which time, the grain is frequently turned 
with shovels. In drying, the roots break off the ker- 
nels, and furnish malt dust. About eighty bushels of 
barley will make one hundred of malt. It will be per- 
ceived by this brief description of the process of mak- 
ing malt, that it is important to have grain that will all 
germinate alike. Otherwise there must be a loss. 

Barley and Flax. — Many farmers practice raising 
a crop of barley and flax at the same time, on the same 
ground. But, I have no sympathy with that system 
of management. The flax is a weed — an enemy — 
among the barley. Besides this, one crop is sufficient 
for the fertihty of the soil. When the two are culti- 
vated together, the barley is first put in, then the flax- 
seed is sown, and covered with the brush. The crops 
ripen nearly together. They are harvested, and then 
thrashed with a common thrashing-machine, and by the 
use of suitable screens in the fanning-mill, the barley 
comes out clean in the front part of the mill, and the 
flax-seed is received in a box at one side of the mill. 
If there i^ any foul seed in the flax-seed, it must be run 
through the fan again, so as to separate it from the 
flax-seed. The quantity of seed is about two bushels 
of barley, and one peck of flax-seed. If the mainte- 
nance of the fertility of the soil were no object, and it 



406 todd's countky homes. 

were desirable to remove the largest possible yield from 
a given field, in one season, I would put in seed barley 
as early as practicable, harvest the crop as soon as the 
grain could be gathered, and raise a crop of buckwheat, 
rather than cultivate flax and barley together. But 
true economy demands that proper attention should 
always be paid to the maintenance of the fertility of 
the soil. It is but poor policy for a merchant to invest 
his money in such a way as to diminish his capital year 
by year, until at last, nothing is left. The same policy 
is adopted by those who aim to produce as large a crop 
as they can this year, and perhaps next, without pay- 
ing any attention or giving any thought to the condi- 
tion in which the soil will be left. 



CHAPTEE XI 

HOKTICULTURE AND POMOLOGY. 

The Kitchen Garden — Draining — Preparation of Soil — How to Spade — 
General Principles of Horticulture — When to Plant — Utility of Weeds 
— Ripening Fruit and Vegetables — How to Transplant — Good Seed — 
Carrots — Corn — Potatoes — Turnips — Melons — Squashes — Apples — 

Pears — Small Fruits. 

" Now begins 
The housewife's happiest season of the year, 
The ground already broken by the spade, 
The beds made level with the passing rake, 
She plants the early peas and then the beans, 
But, chief of all, with careful hands she sets 
The slips, and bulbs, and plants which round each bed 
Shall make a bright embroidery of flowers." 

The Kitchen Garden. — Every family should appro- 
priate a small plot of ground to the cultivation of such 
vegetables as all virtuous people esteem among the lux- 
uries of the table. A person who takes pride in his 
garden can hardly be a bad man ; certainty, if he de- 
votes only his leisure time to it, he could not be placed 
under better influences. It is really surprising to see 
what a large amount of excellent food may be pro- 
duced on even a small plot of ground. More luxuries, 
in the form of healthful food for the family, can be ob- 
tained from a well cultivated garden, than from the 
same amount of labor and care expended in any other 
way. Besides this a well cultivated garden increases 
the beauty and comfort of the home, and tends to fos- 



408 todd's countey homes. 

ter and cherish the domestic virtues. It throws an air 
of refinement and beauty around the home, expands 
the mind, and arouses the intellect from the torpidity 
into which that of the farmer is so apt to fall. Not 
only the farmer himself, but his whole family will feel 
the beneficial influence of a neat, well cultivated gar- 
den. If the social influence of the garden is not suf- 
ficient inducement to our fiirmers to prompt them to 
spare a corner of their great fields, let them consider 
its profits in the light of dollars and cents. The civiliz- 
ing and enlightening influences of gardening cannot be 
overestimated, to say nothing of the superior quality 
of the products of one's own grounds, when compared 
with the miserable trash that one must accept if he 
purchases at our city markets. 

Under-dkaining Gardens. — The first consideration 
in preparing a garden, whatever the soil may be, is 
thorough under-draining. In many places selected for 
a garden, nature has made ample provision for convey- 
ing away all surplus water. Where the subsoil is so 
compact that water will stand on the surface after a 
heavy shower, or in the spring of the year, the land 
must be drained. It will be folly to attempt to make 
a good garden when there is an excess of moisture in 
the soil. When a garden is located on a slope of land, 
by cutting a deep ditch across the upper side, to cut 
off the water-veins, the entire garden may be made 
quite dry, by a short drain. (See Draining, page 344.) 

Preparation of the Soil. — For a good garden, one 
wants a deep, fertile and mellow soil, in which he can pro- 
duce anything that he may desire to cultivate, which 
will mature in his latitude. If the soil is a deep, light and 



HOW TO SPADE A GARDEN^. 409 

sandy, mingle with it fifty loads of clay and twenty or 
more of muck, or street dirt, or leaf mould. If clay 
preponderates, apply sand, fine gravel, loam, muck, 
or chip-dirt, sawdust, tan-bark, turners' -shavings, and 
anything else that will render the soil more light and 
porous. Should there be more black muck than any 
other kind of soil, apply clay and sand. In case the 
light soil rests on a calcareous subsoil, the better way 
will be to trench the entire ground with a plow, or 
spading fork, by turning up the subsoil and mingling 
the light surface soil with the heavier subsoil. But 
this should be done in late autumn, or winter. Then, 
pile on the manure, and mingle it with the soil. 
How TO Spade a Garden. — 

" Hurrah for the spade and the man who can use it." 

The best soil should always be kept on the surface so 
far as may be practicable, as the seeds need a mellow 
and rich bed not only to hasten germination, but to 
promote a luxuriant growth. The soil must be thor- 
oughly pulverized to a good depth — the deeper the 
better. In order to spade or to fork a garden proj)erly, 
throw back the soil from a strip about five feet wide 
and one foot deep. This mellow surface soil must be 
wheeled to the opposite side of the garden, when the 
spading is finished. After removing the surface soil as 
directed, spade the subsoil with a spading fork, pulver- 
izing it thoroughly, and return it, as nearly as practica- 
ble, to the place where it was taken up. Then, spade 
another strip of the surface soil, throwing it as the 
work is done, on the pulverized subsoil, until another 
strip of the subsoil has been laid bare, which may then 
be spaded. This is called trench or double spading. 



410 todd's country homes. 

The blade of the spade enters the soil, in both instan- 
ces, not less than one foot, and as the ground will be 
much more porous after it is spaded, the seed-bed will 
be nearly thirty inches deep. If the soil be broken 
deep, the roots of plants will strike much farther down- 
ward than they otherwise would, and will thus avail 
themselves of the moisture farthest from the surface, 
which is not accessible when ground has not been 
spaded, nor plowed more than a few inches in depth. 
See that the indolent shirk forks up every square inch 
clear down to the desired depth. If there is room for 
a team and plow, let one narrow furrow be plowed 
deep, and then put the spade down the length of the 
blade, in the bottom of the farrow. In case the sub- 
soil is so porous, that roots will readily strike down two 
feet, such trenching may be dispensed with. After- 
wards, pile on the manure in autumn. Employ a spad- 
ing fork, instead of a spade, as a man will be able to 
spade ground with a fork, with much less fatigue, than 
with a spade. Read how to plow deep, page 339. The 
soil must be thoroughly comminuted to a good depth, 
say sixteen to twenty inches — or one need not expect 
a bountiful crop. 

If gardeners will use the garden fork, and turn the 
soil up full fork deep, allowing it to remain in lumps 
all winter exposed to the frost, it will put the soil in 
excellent condition and tend greatly to add to the pro- 
duction of next year's crop. But, never allow water 
to stand on the garden, nor on any tillable land, as it 
will fill all the pores which should be occupied with air, 
will droivn the soil, and will cause the particles to flow 
together like mortar, which ruins the fertility. When 



PEINCIPLES OF HOKTICULTURE. 411 

there is much clay in the soil, keep all kinds of animals 
off the garden in wet weather, as even the incessant 
tread of poultry will pack down the surface, and thus 
cause the soil to be lumpy. Pile on the manure. 
Clear out the hennery, duckery, goosery, piggery, 
dovery, and scatter the accumulations over the garden, 
and fork everything into the soil. Scatter all the 
ashes, both coal and wood, in the garden, instead of 
collecting them in barrels. Then fork them in. 

General Principles of Horticulture. — The prep- 
aration of the soil for all kinds of vegetables will 
require about the same forking and manuring. Then, 
all kinds of seeds will require the advantage of a rich 
and mellow seed-bed. Small seeds need only one- 
fourth of an inch in depth of covering in a heavy soil. 
But large seeds, like Indian corn and potatoes, must be 
planted from two to four inches deep. In a light soil, 
four inches in depth is none too deep for large seeds. 
But such seeds as beans and squash seeds, the kernels 
of which are taken on the ends of their respective 
stems, and thrust up to the surface of the soil, should 
always be planted rather shallow. In light sandy loam 
soil, peas are sometimes planted eight to twelve inches 
deep. Were they to be planted thus in a heavy soil, 
not one of them could ever come up. As all plants 
send out roots through the soil, it is of eminent im- 
portance that the seed-bed be fine and mellow, so that 
the numerous minute rootlets may spread without 
difficulty, far and wide, to gather food and drink. If 
one proposes to cultivate flowers, ' or raise fruit and 
vegetables, the soil will require about the same 
thorough preparation, by forking and manuring. 



412 todd's country homes. 

When to Plant Seeds. — Some kinds of seeds can 
be planted too early in the growing season. Certain 
kinds, like Indian corn, must not be planted until 
the ground is sufficiently warm to promote germina- 
tion and rapid growth. If seeds be planted as soon as 
the soil is sufficiently warm to promote speedy germina- 
tion, the plants will be more productive, than if the 
same seed had lain in the cold ground, for one or two 
weeks, before there was sufficient warmth to keep the 
plants growing. There is nothing gained by planting 
any kind of seed before the ground is sufficiently warm 
for it to germinate. Indeed, in many instances, plants 
are seriously injured by putting the seed in the ground 
too early. If seeds can be deposited in the soil, soon 
after a warm and gentle shower of rain, they will ger- 
minate much sooner than if planted previous to a heavy 
rain. The reason for this is obvious. When seeds are 
planted just before a heavy rain, the soil is washed 
down closely around them, thus excluding the air, which 
is essential to germination. But. if seeds are covered 
with light soil, as soon after a shower as the. ground is 
sufficiently dry to work, all the interstices of the soil 
will be filled wdth warm aqueous vapor, which is more 
conducive to rapid germination than the close contact 
of cold and wet soil. 

Do Not Work Ground too Early in the Grow- 
ing Season. — If a garden be plowed, forked, or spaded 
before the soil has settled and become warmed up, it 
will need another plowing or spading when the seed is 
about to be put into the seed-bed. There is nothing 
gained by working ground of any kind before the soil 
is sufficiently warm for plants to grow. 



WHAT SEEDS TO PLANT EARLY. 413 

What Seeds to Plant Eaely. — Although potatoes 
contain much starch, the sets, if properly managed, 
may be forwarded in their growth, several days, by 
putting them in a pail, or basket made dark with 
paper, and hanging it in the kitchen. By this means 
sets may have sprouts two or more inches in length, 
when the ground is sufficiently warm to put them out. 
As peas germinate at a lower temperature than Indian 
corn, a row may be planted, and a wide board or two 
set on the edge to shield them from the cold north 
wind. In chilly weather the rows should be covered 
with a wide board. Tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, 
melons, may be planted two weeks before the ground 
in the garden is sufficiently warm to promote their 
rapid growth, by planting the seeds on pieces of rich 
sods turned grass-side down, on a shelf in a stove- 
room, and furnished with fine garden mould, and 
watered twice a day. The roots will spread through 
the sods; and each piece may be removed to the gar- 
den with the hill of growing plants, without checking 
their growth in the least. Hills of choice squashes 
may be started in this manner, and kept in the kitchen 
until all danger of frost has passed, before the plants 
and sods are put in the open ground. Tomato plants 
may be kept growing on a piece of rich sod until the 
stems are one foot high. Then, if planted in rich soil, 
they will continue to grow rapidly, and fructify early 
in the season. After hills of plants have been put out, 
barrels, boxes and tubs should always be turned over 
them during cold nights. Many other vegetables, as 
well as flowers, may be started early in the same way, 
with most satisfactory results. But if the seeds of 



414 todd's countky homes. 

tender plants be put in the seed-bed before the ground 
is sufficiently warm to promote rapid germination, the 
germs will die and the seed decay. A great many 
people often thwart their own purposes by putting in 
their seeds too early. Always provide good seed and 
a rich, well-prepared soil. Then, as soon as the ground 
is warm, plow or fork it over, and plant the seed. 
The great Utility of Weeds. — 

" If seeds we plant not, weeds will fill the land ; 
And thistles take the place for flowers designed." 

We often wonder w^hat weeds were created for. And 
then, the thoughts revert to the time, when the great 
Creator said : " Thorns also and thistles shall the earth 
bring forth." Most people feel that noxious weeds are 
a curse to the soil ; when, in reality they are a great 
blessing in disguise. Weeds — like clover — are w^onder- 
ful renovators of the soil. If a farmer tills and reno- 
vates his land more thoroughly than weeds are capable 
of doing it, weeds will retire. But, just as soon as 
the land seems to be tilled in such a perfunctory man- 
ner as to allow the weeds a chance for rivalry, they will 
put the agricultural ability of a pretty thorough farmer 
to a severe test, to obtain the mastery. Still, it is no 
difficult task to exterminate weeds and thistles of any 
kind, if one will only till his land for the greatest profit. 
Weeds were created for the purpose of compelling till- 
ers of the soil to cultivate thoroughly. People would 
not work their land half so well as they now do, were 
it not for weeds. Canada thistles, daisies, wild mustard 
and quack will not show their heads, if tillers of the 
soil will cultivate their land to its greatest capacity of 
productiveness. 

Garden Tools. — When rows are so short, that a 



HOW TO TRANSPLANT. 415 

horse hoe cannot be employed between them I have 
found such a hand cultivator as is represented by the 
illustration, to be a valuable labor-saving implement, for 
scarifying the surface, and cutting up young weeds. 




A HAND CULTIVATOE. 

The cultivator is represented as prepared for digging 
up the surface, with the tooth, Fig. 1. Fig. 2 is a 
larger digger. Fig. 3 represents a small plow. Fig. 4 
is a scuffle tooth for cutting up weeds. Fig. 5 repre- 
sents a sharp wheel for cutting off strawberry runners. 
Fig. 6 represents a rake for gathering weeds into 
bunches. Two boys, one to draw, will do twenty times 
as much with such a cultivator, as with other hand 
tools. 

How TO Transplant. — When plants are taken up, 
and transplanted, the object should be to return them 
again to the seed-bed, as nearly as may be practicable, 
having every little rootlet spread out, separate from 
others, just as the roots were before the tree or plant was 



416 



TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 



taken up. But, as such a thing cannot be done, on ac- 
count of the small rootlets, the better way is to use a 
trowel for removing very small plants, or a transplanter, 
for taking up a quart of soil with each plant — as repre- 
sented by the accompanying figures. At the right, the 

instrument is represented 
as forced into the ground 
around a plant. At the 
left the parts are ready to 
be thrust down by the foot. 
An ingenious blacksmith 
will make one in an hour. 
The blades should be made 
of thick sheet-iron, nine 
inches long, and six inches 
wide, at the top. It would 
be a great improvement to 
have the shanks cross each 
TRANSPLANTER. otlier, Hkc a pair of nippers. 

Such a device is one of the best tools for transplanting 
almost anything that is to be removed. Sometimes one 
can remove a large . bush, or hill of vegetables, by 
thoroughly saturating the soil with water, where the 
plant stands ; and then, by thrusting down the shovel 
on four sides, and taking up a square of earth with the 
shovel, and dropping it carefully in a depression, with- 
out disturbing the roots. I have often removed large 
plants, and some young trees, without apparent injury 
to their growth, by lifting them with a shovel. 

Transplanting tomatoes, cabbages, turnips and other 
annuals, should never be done when the ground is so 
wet that the soil will bake after it has dried. It is also 




CULTIVATION OF CAKROTS. 417 

a bad practice to puddle the roots, that is, to wet and 
so mud the roots by dipping them in a pail of mud, as 
to cause them to adhere together. The most successful 
practice in transplanting, is to plant in the moist ground, 
when the earth pulverizes fine, work the fine soil among 
the roots, until the hole is half filled, then fill the 
hole with water, and as soon as it has soaked away, 
draw in dry soil to finish and level the surface. When 
the earth is pressed and tramped with one's feet, around 
the roots, the new rootlets can scarcely w^ork through 
the dense mass. I have transplanted a great many 
young turnips and cabbage plants, and I have always 
been most successful, when fine sand, or mellow soil 
was filled into the hole or drill. If the day is not 
cloudy, always transplant everything after sundown, so 
that the young plants may begin to live, before the 
burning sun can wilt the leaves. 
Cultivation of Carrots. -^ — 

" Now the spring time has come on ; and the snow and ice are gone, 
Come, my little carrot root, will you not begin to shoot ? " 

Few farmers, comparatively, can raise a bountiful 
crop of carrots on account of the low state of fertility 
of the soil, miserably poor seed, planting too early, 
and the immense crop of noxious weeds whcli get the 
start of the slow-growing plants. Carrots will not grow 
where the soil has been run and impoverished by a long 
succession of exhausting crops. Carrots require a deep, 
clean and rich soil. They are dainty feeders, like the 
wheat plant. Young carrot plants cannot cope with 
weeds and grass. Every tiller of the soil should set 
out a few of the largest and finest carrots for seed, 
every spring. Then, gather none but the earliest and 
largest panicles. Let these be saved to plant next 

27 



418 todd's countey homes. 

spring. Those panicles of seed that mature ^rs^ are 
much the best, and will produce fairer and earlier car- 
rots, while that seed which matures late in the season, 
is not as good as the other, and the carrots produced 
from it, will often be small and late. As soon as the 
seed begins to turn from a green color to a brown, cut 
off all those branches that are ripe, carry them beneath 
a shelter, and spread them on a shelf Two pounds of 
clean seed per acre is usually sufficient when drilled. 

Prepakation of Soil for Carrots. — The first step 
will be to render the land mellow and rich, and to ex- 
terminate the weeds, before the seed is put in. If the 
soil is at all heavy, plow and harrow it in late autumn. 
The next spring, as soon as the soil is a little dry on 
the surface, let it be harrowed. This will facilitate the 
early vegetation of weeds, which will all be killed when 
the ground is harrowed again, or 23lowed. Let the car- 
rot ground be harrowed every two weeks, from the 
commencement of the growing season, until the fruit 
trees are in full bloom. Then plow and sow the car- 
rot seed. By this system of management, the soil will 
be so mellow and moist, that the young plants will get 
the start of the weeds, and, with only a little timely 
cultivation, will maintain the ascendency. If seed be 
planted before the ground is warm, weeds will cover the 
surface before a single carrot has appeared. To facili-^ 
tate speedy germination of the seed, put it in a small 
sack, and soak it for twenty hours, in tepid water. 
Then, remove the seed from the water, drain it, roll it 
in gypsum, and plant it before the germs dry. Do not 
plant the seed more than half an inch deep. Make the 
rows about thirty inches apart, and as straight as a line. 



CULTIVATION OF PAESNIPS. 419 

When planting in the garden, stretch a line, make a 
shallow drill beneath it, put in the seed, and cover it 
with mellow soil. When one has no seed planter, carry 
a long tin horn in one hand, the small end down, and 
drop the seed by hand in the large end. By this means, 
one can walk erect, and drop the seed where it should 
fall. Thin the plants to about eight inches apart. Be- 
gin to cultivate with a horse hoe, as soon as the rows 
can be followed. If weeds are allowed to get the start 
of the young carrots, a tiller of the soil will be very 
apt to resolve never to cultivate any more carrots. 
On the contrary, if he will follow the foregoing direc- 
tions, to the letter, he can easily raise one thousand 
bushels per acre, at an expense of only a few days' 
work, besides manure. 

Cultivation of Parsnips. — Parsnips are one of 
the most profitable crops that a farmer or gardener can 
raise, either as a vegetable for his own table, or for 
milch cows. On certain kinds of soil it is utterly im- 
practicable to raise a profitable crop, even when the 
soil is thoroughly cultivated and enriched; while on 
other soils the proprietor has only to put in the seed 
and eradicate the weeds when a bountiful crop can be 
obtained at a small amount of labor. As parsnips grow 
far more rapidly than carrots, on those farms where it 
has been found to be expensive raising the latter kind 
of roots, a crop of parsnips may be raised with little 
labor, provided the soil is not too heavy, and has been 
brought to a good state of fertility by suitable fertilizing 
materials. One of the greatest points of superiority 
of the parsnip over the carrot is its rapidity of ger- 
mination and growth while very small. The young 



420 todd's country homes. 

plants come up in a much shorter time than carrot seed 
planted in the same place. This enables laborers to 
dress out the young plants when the weeds are exceed- 
ingly small, and before the young carrots have ap- 
peared. Then, after the first weeding is performed, the 
greater part of the labor required to raise the crop is 
finished. Another consideration in favor of raising 
parsnips is, if cold weather should come on unexpect- 
edly, as it sometimes does, before a large crop of carrots 
can be pulled and secured from the frost, parsnips are 
not injured by remaining in the ground during the 
winter. Indeed, there is no place where 'they will 
keep so fresh and good, as where they grew. All kinds 
of animals eat parsnips with great avidity; and for 
fattening mutton or any kind of beef cattle, parsnips 
have been proved by well-conducted experiments to 
accomplish the process in less time than when other 
food was employed, and also to make meat of exquisite 
flavor. Parsnips are eminently superior to any other 
roots for ewes that yean early in the spring, the lambs 
of which are to be prepared for slaughter in the early 
part of summer. Farmers should procure a supply 
of good seed and prepare for raising a few hundred 
bushels of these most excellent roots. One great 
advantage in the parsnip is, it never suifers from the 
attacks of frost, and the roots may be left in the field 
a whole winter without sustaining the slightest injury. 
It can be cultivated in any situation where beet-roots 
and carrots have given satisfactory products. Read 
the article under the head of carrots, and substitute 
parsnips for carrots, and you will have all the neces- 
sary details for producing a bountiful crop. 



CULTUEE OF ASPARAGUS AND BEANS. 421 

CuLTUEE OF Asparagus. — Asparagus is a perennial. 
Many peojDle are able to gather only a few bunches of 
asparagus in a season, simply because they cut it 
too late. The cutting must cease in time for a heavy 
crop of stalks to grow and mature seed. Otherwise 
the product will be extremely light. What asparagus 
seems most to require is a soil easily penetrated by the 
roots to a great depth. The better way to cultivate as- 
paragus is to plant the seeds, or plants in beds not over 
four feet wide, so that one can reach from either side 
to the middle. Let the ground be trenched not less 
than twenty inches deep, and a rich compost thor- 
oughly mingled with the soil, as deep as the ground is 
worked. There is no danger of making it too rich. If 
young plants cannot be obtained, scatter the seed, in a 
well prepared bed, early in the growing season, in 
drills eighteen inches apart running across the bed. 
Cover the seeds with one inch of sand, or fine mould. 
Now, sprinkle the bed with brine, as often as weeds 
appear. I never used a fork, nor hoe in asparagus, as 
the roots run near the surface, and should not be mu- 
tilated. Pile on salt and lime to keep down all grass 
and weeds. Top dress with rich compost in late au- 
tumn. Stop cutting the shoots by the middle of sum- 
mer, or before, and cut down and spread all the tops 
in the fall, over the bed. In a few years, asparagus 
will be produced as large as a hoe handle. 

Cultivation of Beans. — The culture of field beans 
is the most simple of all farm operations. They should 
be planted upon dry soil, to insure fair, clean grain, as 
steamy land will mould the pods and cause blight. 
The soil should Ije warm and light, and not too highly 




MAKROW BEANS. PEA BEANS. 



422 todd's country homes. 

manured. Almost any bnt a heavy clay soil will pro- 
duce a fliir cro23. The planting is best done as soon as 
danger from frost is over ; but if put in any time before 
the last week in Jnne, beans are pretty sure to make a 
crop. The seed should be planted in rows about two 
and one-half feet apart, or sufficiently wide to allow of 
working with the cultivator. They may be planted 
with the hoe, putting three or four beans in the hill at 
a foot or fifteen inches apart. There are bean drills 

which do the work ex- 
peditiously, some of 
which drop the seed 
in a continuous line, 
and others are so con- 
trived as to plant in hills. From a bushel to six pecks 
are used for an acre. Beans make a very profitable 
market crop, besides being an excellent article for 
family use, and especially valuable to the sheep hus- 
bandman, as sheep will eat them readily without grind- 
ing, and thrive well upon them, while for other stock 
it is necessary to grind and mix them with other 
grain. The vines are also valuable to feed to sheep. 

Beans may be planted after other crops are all in. 
Plant early productive varieties, not later than June 
15th, if practicable on sandj^ loam, or where corn Avas 
raised the previous year, using no additional manure, 
lest the luxuriance of the foliage prevent an abundant 
crop ; or, the beans may be planted alternately with 
corn where the corn is manured only in the hill. In 
many places beans are raised successfully as a field 
crop. Weeds are fatal to this crop and must be 
thoroughly subdued. Plant five or six beans to the 



CULTURE OF LIMA BEANS. 423 

hill, under two inches of clean, mellow soil, and make 
the hills sixteen by thirty inches. 

The most satisfactory manner of cultivating a crop 
of field beans is, to plow the ground in autumn, then 
plow it twice the next season, harrow it as often as the 
weeds appear, and put in the beans with a grain drill, 
stopping every other tube. By this management, the 
soil will be deep, mellow and moist ; the weeds will be 
so exterminated that the plants will require no hoeing ; 
and the crop will cost no more than a crop of oats. 
The drill should be set to drop the seed about two 
inches apart. Field beans should be planted so early 
in the season, th^t the crop may mature and be har- 
vested before fall rains. Forty to fifty bushels per acre 
is a satisfactory yield. When ripe, let the crop be 
pulled, and cured like hay. Then, the beans may be 
thrashed at once, or be stored till winter. 

Culture of Lima Beans. — This variety is excel- 
lent for the kitchen garden, as they are as rich as but- 
ter. After preparing the ground thoroughly, by mak- 
ing it as mellow as practicable, set the bean-poles, one 
in the middle of each hill, before the beans are planted. 
Then take one bean at a time, between the thumb and 
fingers, and press it into the ground, about four inches 
from the pole, always with the eyes downward. If the 
ground is sufficiently moist to promote germination, let 
them be pressed into the ground not more than one 
inch, and covered with mellow soil. On the contrary, 
if the soil lacks moisture, it is better to put every bean 
at least two inches deep, in order to insure sufficient 
moisture to cause germination. If the seed is good, 
four beans around each pole will be enough for one hill. 



424 todd's country homes. 

and the hills should be at least three feet distant in one 
direction, and two feet apart the other way. The run- 
ners should be watched every two days, at least, and 
tied to the poles if necessary, as the luxuriant growth 
will be checked in a few days if the runners are allowed 
to spread around on the ground, having no support. 
Any kind of pole-beans must have a stake to sustain 
the vines, or they will not fructify abundantly. As 
Lima beans are so large, and yield so bountiiiilly when 
well cultivated, it is a matter of economy to plant 
every bean with great care. The great thing with the 
Lima bean, is the right time, for the least cold or damp- 
ness, while they are germinating, will rot them. But 
the "right time" may be much accelerated by a large 
hill of sand on which to sow your Lima beans — ri(5h 
sand — a soil that will not only keep your bean warm 
and dry, but give it something to eat, worth eating, 
besides. There is no use trying for early beans, with- 
out large hills of light soil. With them you are all 
right. The j)oles are often much too long. A bean 
will bear earlier on a short pole than a long one. The 
sooner you can train a shoot from one plant away across 
to the pole of the other, the sooner the vines will bear. 

Culture of Beets. — A crop of beets will require 
about the same management as turnips. Beets need a 
rich soil and clean culture. Read the article on tur- 
nips, or carrots; and cultivate beets in every respect as 
if the seed and plants were carrots. 

Culture of Egg Plants. — The first requisite in 
raising egg-plants is to get good seed. After this 
comes the proper management of the hot-bed in start- 
ing the plants. In this latitude we never put them 



CULTURE OF EGG PLANTS. 425 

into the hot-bed later than the 10th of March. Great 
caution must be used in regulating the temperature of 
the beds, and the plants must be transplanted about 
three times before being put out. The object in trans- 
planting them so many times is to get a stocky and 
thrifty plant to put out about the middle of May. On 
account of the extreme tenderness of the young egg- 
plants, it is sometimes difficult to secure even a limited 
supply of prime plants. If the seed be planted very 
early in the growing season, the young plants are 
liable to be chilled, so that they never recover from the 
injury. The young plants are quite as delicate and 
tender as spears of Indian corn; and unless the seed 
and growing plants are properly managed at the out- 
set, every effort to raise a large crop will fail. If the 
seed has been saved with proper care, and is really 
good, one ounce will produce from three to four thou- 
sand plants. Like all other tender plants, the egg- 
plant requires the advantages of steady and permanent 
heat, from the time of planting the seed, until the 
period of cold and chilling weather has passed. The 
chief difficulty in growing egg-plants is planting the 
seed too early in the growing season. Seeds of the 
egg-plant are often sown in March; but in many in- 
stances, if the tender plants can be protected and kept 
alive until May or June, when they can be put out into 
the open ground, plants that have sprung from seed 
sown in April will be quite as forward in June, and will 
yield more fruit than those which were planted in 
March. Very much will depend on the variety. 
Twenty days before the weather will be sufficiently 
warm to put the plants out in open ground, let a 



426 todd's countky homes. 

hot-becl be prepared for the seed. Let much care be 
exercised in the management of the hot-bed during 
cold nights, that the very young plants may not be- 
come chilled. When only a few plants are desired, 
the better way is to plant the seed in pots, which 
should be kept in a warm room until it is time to 
transplant them. Egg-plants require a rich soil, warm 
weather and clean cultivation. If the plants do not 
produce large fruit, it is a certain indication that the 
soil is not sufficiently rich. 

Culture of Celery. — This delicious vegetable is 
produced from seed. It is highly important to select 
seed from the largest and most perfect stems. One 
ounce of seed will yield 10,000 plants. The plants of 
early celery are propagated in the same manner as 
cabbages, by sowing the seed in a cold bed. Celery 
must have rich ground. In preparing the soil for the 
plants, make a deep trench, throwing the soil out on 
each side to the depth of nine inches or more, and fill 
up the trench nearly to its surface with thoroughly 
decomposed manure. Now, thoroughly incorporate 
soil and manure together. Then put out the plants 
say nine by twelve on this surface, and thoroughly 
soak the whole with water in the trench. If the 
weather is very hot shade the plants for a few days. 
After forming an embankment twelve inches high, 
keep it constantly saturated with water. If manure 
water be used so much the better. Let guano be dis- 
solved in water, and the young plants watered with a 
weak liquid. As the plants grow, keep them loosely 
tied up with bass matting, and rub off all the young 
suckers that grow out at the base of the leaves. The 



BLANCHING CELERY MELONS AND SQUASHES. 427 

very small leaves or stems at the bottom of the plant 
should be taken oiF also. This will facilitate the re- 
moval and will enable you to watch the growth of 
suckers, which, if left on, will waste the substance and 
deteriorate the growth. The trench must not be al- 
lowed to become dry. It should always be what the 
boys call a puddle. If proper attention is paid to this 
point, and also to putting the plants out early, celery 
can be grown to a very large size before November. 

Blanching Celery. — The growing plants are 
blanched to render the stems more crisp, white and 
delicious. Blanching is performed by gathering the 
leaves and stems up together and hauling earth up 
against them. Celery should not be earthed up at all, 
until about three weeks before it is required for use. 
Four weeks' time at the utmost will bleach it as white 
as a lily. In order to bleach it, the soil from the sides is 
thrown between the plants, and nearly up to the top 
of the leaves. As soon as the leaves fall from the trees, 
cover these beds entirely over, about twelve or eighteen 
inches thick, placing over them a few corn stalks to 
prevent the leaves from blowing away. From these 
beds you can dig sweet, crisp celery all winter. This 
is the practice round about New York City. Farther 
north, if left in the ground, the celery may require 
more protection. 

melons and squashes. 

Select the seed from those melons and squashes that 
mature first. Half the seed sold at seed stores, is of 
little value. Melons require a mellow, rich, and well- 
prepared soil. A large shovel-full of well-rotted barn- 
yard manure, or other good compost, is well incor- 



428 todd's country homes. 

porated with the soil where the seed is deposited. 
Instead of planting the seeds by covering them with a 
hoe, every one is stuck, germ downward, in its place, 
which is the only true way to plant all such seeds, as 
each seed is thrust on the end of the stem uj) through 
the soil, to the surface. In case any of the plants fail 
to grow luxuriantly, as they frequently do, more seed 
should be put in at once. The ground should be kept 
clean by cultivating and hoeing, and great care exer- 
cised not to root-prune the plants and tear the vines to 
pieces. Many tillers of the soil ruin their crop by 
mutilating the roots and tearing the vines, especially 
in wet weather. A liberal supply of bog-ashes, or 
wood-ashes, should be sprinkled around each hill. 
Those farmers who have an abundance of coarse barn- 
yard manure, a large proportion of which is corn-stalks, 
may place a liberal quantity beneath each hill, and 
mingle some sand and fine chip-manure with the soil, 
where the ground is composed largely of clay. Four 
plants in each hill will yield more melons than twice 
that number. Two handfuls of finely-pulverized hen- 
manure sprinkled around each hill, over an area of two 
feet in diameter, will have an excellent effect in pro- 
moting a luxuriant growth of the plants and in de- 
veloping the fruit. When the runners have spread 
about two or three feet each way, and some of the 
melons have set, the vines of each hill should be folded 
all up in a small compass, while the ground is culti- 
vated with care, hoeing carefully near the hills, thus 
exterminating every weed and grass. The vines are 
then spread out in their original positions, without 
separating any of the best melons from the plants. 



MELONS AND SQUASHES. 429 

When there is a large number of blossoms, or melons, 
most of them are pinched off, in order to throw the 
nourishment all into the stems of a few of the largest 
and best. Different varieties should be planted far 
apart, as they mix very easily. Two or three plants 
are enough for a hill. The best protection from bugs 
is the box, covered with gauze or glass. Squashes 
occupy a great deal of ground when suffered to run 
and have their own way. But there is nothing gained 
by allowing vines to run themselves to death. Either 
pinch off the ends, or turn them around, which will 
check the propensity to run, and thus promote fructifi- 
cation. When a person has but little room, and wishes 
to economize, a trellis for them to run upon is rec- 
ommended, and is said to operate very successfully. 
Stakes or small posts are set up two feet apart each 
way and the seed planted in the center. When the 
vines begin to run they are trained upon slats nailed 
to the posts, and by throwing boards across the slats 
the fruit is supported, and will ripen much earlier than 
when allowed to lie on the ground half covered with 
leaves. Squashes trained in this way can be made to 
occupy but little space, and are said to bear as pro- 
fusely as when the vines run over the ground. Melons 
and squashes must be manured bountifully. When the 
soil is thin and not very fertile, after plowing deep, dig 
pits three feet square, about twenty inches deep, and 
seven feet distant from each other, measuring from 
center to center. Fill in about ten inches with green 
stable manure and litter, and tramp down compactly. 
Over this fill in, say four inches of good, rich sandy 
loam, and over that a three-inch course of compost, 



430 todd's countet homes. 

made of either hog-pen or hen-house manure about 
three parts, two parts of wood-ashes, one of some good 
phosphate, and an equal quantity to all of sandy loam. 
Over this course make the planting surface of rich, 
warm soil, and put in the seeds a few inches apart, 
suffering about ten of the strongest vines to grow. 
When a vine has made a run of three feet, snip off his 
head, and shorten all laterals to the same length. Cul- 
tivate well ; top-dress about three times with ashes and 
bone-dust, a handful or two to each hill. 

For the late varieties of squashes, the best are the 
Hubbard, Boston Marrow, Acorn, and Vegetable Mar- 
row. The Valparaiso is a tolerably fair variety when 
the season is just right. Immense squashes, sometimes 
grown, are rather for the sight than the table. They 
are coarse meated, and watery, compared with the little 
gnarly Hubbard, which is mealy, and as delicately fla- 
vored as the sweet potato. Do not plant the seed until 
apple trees are in full bloom. A dead animal, or a 
large fish buried beneath the seed of every hill, will 
produce a large crop. 

Exterminating Borers. — Borers will often enter 
squash-vines near the root, and eat off the vines from 
the inside. My own practice has always been to thrust 
a sharp and thin knife blade through the vine, near 
the entrance of the borer, split the vine in two, re- 
move the borers, and tie the vine together again, for 
a few days, until the wound heals. I have often taken 
four borers an inch long, from the heart of one vine, 
without injuring the vine. 

Squash Bugs. — These must be destroyed, or they 
will devour the young plants. There will always be a 



HOW TO KEEP SQUASHES AND MELONS. 431 

host ready for every vine. As soon as the plants are 
up, watch for the black squash bug and destroj^ them. 
If you destroy all the early bugs, your task is done ; 
but if not, you will be troubled with them until pretty 
late in the season. If the bugs become very numerous, 
trap them, by making a small flat hole in the ground, 
near the root of the vine, and place a chip or some such 
thing over it. The bugs will cluster on the under side 
of the chip for shelter at night, and in the morning, 
you can pick up the chip, and jar them into hot water, 
or crush them. It is essential that the bugs should 
be killed while the vines are young, for if they are so 
numerous as to stunt the vines, you must fight them 
longer. We cannot use any nostrums that will repel 
bugs. They must be killed by hand, usually in the 
morning, when they are not so lively, as they are in 
the middle of the day. 

How TO KEEP Squashes and Melons. — Put them 
in a dry, warm place, and they will not rot. It is a 
warm damp atmosphere, like that in most cellars, that 
causes decay. A dry stove-room, or furnace-heated 
room, which never gets cold, or a closet near the fire- 
place, which never gets cool enough to freeze, are good 
places in which to keep winter squashes and pumpkins. 
They keep well, hung up in baskets or bags overhead 
in the kitchen, or a hanging shelf Squashes and mel- 
ons should be always stored away singly — never in 
piles — when you wish to preserve them a long time. 
Squashes should be gathered before frost, as a very 
slight frost will injure their keeping qualities. Squashes 
should be thoroughly ripened before being harvested, 
and that before any severe frosts occur, as a very slight 



432 todd's countky homes. 

touch of frost will defeat their good keeping. They 
should be carefully gathered, retaining the stems on 
the fruit, in the middle of a dry day. Handle care- 
fully, so as not to bruise or break the skin. 

Culture of Field Peas. — Peas are one of the 
most profitable field crops a farmer can raise, if he 
manages judiciously. A crop of peas -will leave the 
ground cleaner than most other crops. If the land be 
heavy, let it be plowed in autumn. Then let it be 
plowed as early in the following spring as it can be, 
after the surface has become sufficiently dry. Light 
land will need plowing but once. After the seeds of 
all the noxious weeds that lay near the surface, have 
germinated, and the young plants have appeared in 
the seed leaf, let the surface be worked with a wheel 
cultivator, which will pulverize the soil to the depth 
of three or four inches, and thus exterminate all the 
young plants. Let this working of the surface be con- 
tinued every two weeks until the last of May, then let 
the peas be put in with a tube drill. A crop of peas, 
if the soil be prepared in the foregoing manner, will 
exert an excellent influence in restoring and maintain- 
ing the fertility of poor land. Field peas are usually 
harvested with a sliding horse rake, before the vines 
are cut. The windrows are then turned over, and as 
soon as the vines are cured, the crop is stacked. Peas 
are often fed to sheep and swine, vines and all. Such 
a crop will be found excellent for making pork, or 
mutton. 

Deep Planting. — I have known gardeners on Long 
Island to bury their peas one foot deep, very early in 
the spring ; and the crops were much larger than if the 



GARDEN PEAS. 433 

seed had been planted shallow. But, when the soil is 
heavy, the seed should not be planted too deep. Peas 
covered six or eight inches deep, will produce twice as 
much as those covered but an inch. The vines will 
continue Jflowering longer, will grow more vigorous, 
and will not lie down, as is often the case when shal- 
low plantings are made. I have tested this matter, 
and know from experience, that if it is desired to get 
a large crop, the seed must be buried deep in the soil. 
Gardei^ Peas. — In order to have green peas for a 
long time, plant a row, say a rod long, very early in 
the growing season. Then, plant another row every 
two weeks, until the middle of summer. After the 
ground has been prepared as directed, (p. 409) open a 
channel as wide as the spade, oue foot deep. Stick in 
the pea-brush to support the vines, and scatter the seed 
in the bottom of the trench. If the seed is good, there 
should be peas enough to make two roAvs, three or four 
inches apart, in the bottom of the trench, and the peas 
should be about three inches apart in the rows. A 
quart of seed will plant from one hundred and fifty 
to two hundred feet of rows, as per the size of the seed. 
If the soil is at all heavy, cover the seed with mellow 
earth, or sand brought from a distance. Let the trench 
be filled within two inches of the surface of the ground. 
After the peas have come up, let them be hoed, and 
mellow soil worked in by degrees, to cover the young 
weeds. By this management, weeds can be extermi- 
nated much more easily than if the trench were full 
when the peas come up. If there is any expectation, 
of dry weather, let the growing peas be mulched be- 
tween the rows. 

28 



434 todd's country homes. 

Cultivation of Tomatoes. — Tomatoes are suscepti- 
ble of great imjDrovement, though thej have generally 
received less attention than most garden vegetables. 
While under careful culture, they have been long in 
reaching their present state. The tomato has been a 
comparatively short time under culture, and yet, nature 
has done so much for it, that it already holds high rank 
among our finest fruits of the garden. The seed from 
the fruit which ripens earliest any season, will produce 
the earliest and best the next year. Plants should be 
grown in warm, light, rich soil, from the seeds of the 
earliest ripened fruit having valuable qualities. They 
should be grown early. During no time of their growth 
should they suffer from want of warmth, sunshine, fresh 
air, and a soil in proper mechanical and chemical con- 
dition for their health. For family use the plants may 
be started in a little box in a warm room ; and for field 
culture, in a hot-bed or greenhouse. In quite a small 
box, all the plants any family need, may be grown. A 
few plants well cared for, will be worth a great deal 
more than a large number ill-growm, such as we so 
often see crowded to suffocation and death in dealers' 
hot-beds. Such long, w^eakly things can have no value. 
The little box need be no more than two feet long, a 
foot wide, and a few inches deep, covered with glass to 
counteract the dryness of the atmosphere of the room. 
Put the box in the sunshine, keep the room warm and 
carefully ventilated. Do not be in too great haste to 
germinate the seeds. When once started, see that the 
plants get no check from want of care. In the latitude 
of New York, the seed may be sown about the begin- 
ning of March. When the plants are two or three 



CULTIVATION OF TOMATOES. 435 

inches high they may be put into small pots to be af- 
terwards transplanted into larger ones, or into a hot-bed. 
The transplanting of them at least twice, or even three 
or four times before putting them in the open ground, 
(which should not be done till all appearance of frost has 
gone, unless they are protected when necessary), will 
hasten early ripening. Each time, before transplanting, 
the soil should be well watered, so that a ball of earth 
may be removed with each plant, and this is particularly 
desirable when they are being put in the open ground 
and thus their growth will not be checked. The plants 
should not be set less than four feet apart. Keep the 
soil friable. Let no weeds grow. Hoe early and often, 
and weeds cannot take possession of the soil. 

The fruit may be kept clean and prevented from 
premature decay by spreading brush, salt hay, or other 
such material under the vines, or by 
training them. But if the soil be light 
and dry, this will not be necessary es- 
pecially for a general crop. In garden 
culture, if it be thought best to train 
the vines, a simple way is to set poles 
twelve feet apart, the tops five feet tomato frame. 
high. Attach wires horizontally to them, which will 
form a cheap trellis for the vines, thus exposing them 
to the free action of the sun and air. An excellent 
plan is to make a few such frames as rej)resented by 
the illustration, and let a hill grow in the middle. It 
does not pay to let the tomato vines trail on the ground. 
The fruit will soon decay and it will not ripen satisfac- 
torily. 

Cultivation of Field Tomatoes. — One of the most 




436 todd's countey homes. 

satisfactory ways to jDrepare the ground for a crop of 
early toniatoes in the field, is to defer plowing until the 
ground has become sufficiently warm for tomatoes to 
grow. Then have the plants started in a cold frame 
and ready to transplant, as soon as the ground is ready. 
By deferring the operation of plowing the ground until 
the weather has become warm, the plants will avoid 
that set-back which they often suffer when taken from 
a hot-bed and set in the open air. Besides this, the 
land will require far less cultivating and hand hoeing 
to keep weeds and grass down than if the plowing had 
been done early in the season, so that weeds and grass 
could get a good start before the plants are put out. 
Then, as soon as the plants are set, if comj)ost or com- 
mercial manure is to be employed, let a careful laborer 
haul back the earth for about one inch in depth around 
each plant, and spread the fertilizing material evenly 
over an area of not less than two feet in diameter, with 
the tomato in the center. As soon as this is done, let 
the soil that was removed be returned, so as to cover 
the compost or manure, and thus prevent the valuable 
portions from escaping by evaporation. 

CULTIYATION" OF TuRNIPS. 

In summer sow tm-nips for cattle to eat. 

No turnips, no cattle. No cattle, no meat. 

No turnips, nor cattle, nor manure in the yard. 

Make bills for the doctors, and farming go hard. — Edwards. 

Every farmer, if he keeps no more than on6 cow, 
should raise a supply of turnips ever}?- season. When 
a farmer can raise a satisfactory crop of turnips, his 
land is in a fair state of fertility. But if turnips will 
not grow, he may conclude that the soil needs a 
thorough renovation. 



CULTIVATION OF TURNIPS. 437 

There are several difficulties in the way of raising a 
satisfactory crop of turnips, some of which are poor 
soil, poor seed, injudicious management in many re- 
spects, and noxious weeds. All these things taken 
together effectually prevent a great many tillers of the 
soil from raising a fair crop. With skillful manage- 
ment, from five to eight hundred bushels of good tur- 
nips may be raised per acre at an expense of a few 
dollars. But wrong management, which has encour- 
aged a luxuriant growth of noxious weeds rather than 
turnips, has exerted such a disheartening influence that 
the experiment of raising field-turnips has often been 
abandoned before a fair trial has been given. Although 
mellow and clean ground is desirable, still, a farmer is 
often required to cultivate a heavy and cloddy soil, 
which is full of seeds of noxious weeds. Now, unless 
the management is judicious, the expense of raising 
only a light crop of turnips, on such land, will exceed 
the value of all the products, as weeding, weeding, 
WEEDING will be required for two or three months. 
And even then, half the turnips will not be larger than 
a man's wrist. Whereas, had the management during 
the former part of the growing season been in accord- 
ance with the requirements of a crop of turnips, the 
product would have been twice as large, with half the 
manual labor. I have known many young farmers 
reserve a plot of mellow ground, near the middle of 
some field, for turnips, or carrots, as the soil was so 
fine and mellow. But, to their surprise, turnips would 
not grow larger than a man's thumb ! And why ? 
Simply because the land was too poor for turnips. 
Land for turnips must be rich and mellow. 



438 todd's countky homes. 

Let us notice the principal details in raising a fair 
crop of turnips on heavy land, with as little manual 
labor as practicable. In the first place, we must watch 
the state of the soil as to dryness, and plow it when 
it is neither too wet nor too dry to pulverize as 
thoroughly as if every foot of it had been spaded. If 
the plowing can be done just at the right time, an ex- 
cellent point will have been gained. Where the soil is 
light, this precaution will not be essential. But plow 
a heavy soil when it is either too wet or to dry, and 
hard ground, covered with lumps and clods, will form 
the seed-bed, instead of a friable and mellow soil, easy 
to be worked. A liberal dressing of rich manure 
should be plowed in, early in the growing season, say 
about the time the ground is plowed for Indian corn 
and potatoes. In about two weeks, a crop of noxious 
weeds will have appeared. Now, on some clear day, 
when the sun shines brightly, let the turnip-ground be 
harrowed twice, to root up every weed. Continue to 
harrow or to scarify with a cultivator every two weeks, 
until the first of July. Where the soil is disposed to 
bake, special care should be exercised to do the har- 
rowing, when all the lumps are just moist enough to 
fall to atoms, at a slight touch. In case there are 
many lumps, let the ground be rolled. If these direc- 
tions be observed, a moist and mellow seed-bed will be 
prepared, which will be as free from grass and noxious 
weeds as can be desired. 

How TO Plant the Seed. — In the first place, a 
choice quality of seed should have been saved from the 
largest and earliest pods on the central stalks of a large 
and smooth turnip. The white French sweet turnip 



CULTIVATION OF TURNIPS. 439 

and yellow globe varieties gave better satisfaction, 
when I was on the farm, than any other turnips that I 
attempted to raise. 

I feel prompted to be extremely cautious in recom- 
mending even these that I have named, as the market 
is glutted with inferior seed, that is no better for the 
purposes required than the most shabby and worthless 
animals would be for producing neat cattle, sheep, and 
horses possessing beautiful form and symmetry. 

Let the ground be marked out in straight drills, three 
or four inches deep, and thirty inches apart, in the 
bottom of which scatter about one pound of finely- 
ground bone per every lineal rod. If the soil is fertile 
enough to produce twenty bushels of wheat, or sixty 
of corn, per acre, half a pound of bone per rod in each 
row will be suflBicient. Cover this fertilizing material, 
and plant the seed directly over the bone. A little 
care should be exercised, when the drills are filled, so 
that the marks may not be entirely obliterated. Run 
the seed-planter as nearly over the bone-dust as it can 
be conveniently, and cover the seed half an inch in 
depth. In a few days, if the weather be warm, the 
rows of young turnips will appear in the seed-leaf, 
when thousands of "turnip-flies" will be ready to 
devour the tender plants, imless a light dressing of 
wood-ashes is sifted over the leaves with a fine sieve. 
As soon as the plants are sufficiently large to trans- 
plant, let the rows be thinned to about ten to twelve 
inches apart. If the rows be straight, nearly all the 
-cultivation may be done with a good horse-hoe. In 
lowery weather, call out all hands to weed, thin out, 
and transplant turnips. If managed as suggested, an 



440 todd's country homes. 

acre may be cultivated at an expense of only a few 
cents per bushel. 

How TO Sprinkle on Ashes. — Let the ashes be 
sifted before they are scattered over the turnips, as the 
bits of coal and other hard substances will be liable to 
drop on the young plants. It is desirable to scatter 
only a liberal dusting on the leaves to prevent flies 
from eating them. As wood ashes cannot always be 
obtained, sift coal ashes, which will subserve a satisfac- 
tory purpose. Sweep large chimneys, and sift the soot. 
Mingle lime, coal dust, soot, coal ashes and wood ashes, 
in equal quantities. > Now, make a sieve-box, of thin 
pieces of boards, say twenty inches long, by three 
inches wide, at the bottom, with flaring sides. Then, 
nail a piece of perforated tin, or fine sieve cloth over 
the bottom, secure the end of the box to a broom- 
handle, so that one can hold the sieve down close to the 
turnips, as he sifts the ashes on the rows of grow- 
ing plants. With such a sieve, one can dust a row, 
almost as flist as he can travel at a slow pace. In some 
instances, I have drilled in four times as much seed as 
was necessary, so that the flies could not destroy the 
crop. 

INDIAN CORN— ZEA MAYS. 
" Now, let the good old crop adorn the fields our fathers trod ; 
And let us for this golden corn send up our thanks to God." — Barlow. 

All reliable writers on the history of Indian corn 
agree that it originated in America, and Avas used, to a 
greater or less extent, by the aborigines of this country 
as an article of food long before the discovery of 
America by Christopher Columbus. Travelers have, 
informed us that Indian corn is still found in an indig- 
enous state, from the Rocky Mountains to Paraguay ; 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL FOR CORN. 



441 



and that the kernels, instead of bemg naked as we 
now see them, are covered with a kind of husk, or 
glume, which must be torn off before the grain is 
ground into meal. In the Old World, wheat, oats and 
barley are called corn. In order, therefore, to distin- 




i^iiiiiiii^ 



AN EAR OF RHODE ISLAND CORN. 



guish this kind of grain from either of those kinds, we 
denominate it " Indian Corn," because it was first cul- 
tivated by Indians of our continent; but it has been 
brought to its present excellence by the exercise of 
good care, by selecting the seed, and superior culti- 
vation. 

Selecting Seed. — A few hours spent in selecting 
seed for a crop of corn will reward the farmer more 
abundantly than for almost any other job connected 
with raising the crop. In the garden, tie a strip of 
red flannel on the ears that mature first, instead of eat- 
ing them. As soon as the field crop begins to ripen, 
pass through the standing grain, and put some marks 
on the earliest ears. Then, when the grain is fully 
ripe, braid the seed ears into a chain, and hang them 
up where mice and birds cannot devour the grain. 

Preparation of the Soil. — Indian corn likes a 
rich and mellow seed-bed. The soil, where a crop of 
corn is to be raised, should not be plowed in the spring 
until vegetation has advanced so far that if corn were 
put in the ground it would come up immediately. 
When the plowing is performed for corn, some two or 



442 todd's countey homes. 

three weeks before the corn is planted, the soil fre- 
quently becomes so beaten down by heavy rains that 
it needs to be plowed again ; and, if the land is not 
plowed again, there will be hard planting and hoeing ; 
and the crop cannot possibly be as large as it w^ould' 
have been had the soil been plowed only a few days 
previous to planting the seed. And, more than this, 
when the plowing is deferred until it is about time to 
plant, the soil becomes warm and the corn comes up 
immediately, and continues to grow rapidly, and keeps 
far in advance of weeds and grass ; whereas, when the 
plowing is done a long time before planting, the weeds 
get the start of the corn, and it becomes necessary to 
cultivate it before the young 23lants are sufficiently 
large to enable one to follow the rows with a horse 
and cultivator. An amount of labor equal to one hoe- 
ing may be saved, where noxious weeds and grass 
abound, by deferring to plow in the spring for corn 
until it is time to plant the seed. The seed for a crop 
of corn must be good, or it cannot be expected to 
grow. Seed may, many times, have the appearance 
of being good, when perhaps not one-half of it will 
germinate. And if poor seed be planted, we may not 
be able to compute the loss sustained in the succeeding 
crop. Every one who has ever raised a crop of corn 
will acknowledge the importance of having good seed ; 
because it occupies no more time to plant it, or to cul- 
tivate a field where there are no missinsr hills, than it 
does to cultivate where there are not half as many 
hills as there should be. 

Taering Seed Corn. — The object of tarring seed is 
to repel animals and insects, which are accustomed to 



TARRING SEED CORN. 443 

destroy the seed. Crows, blackbirds, doves, hens and 
squirrels, will often destroy corn, if it is not well tarred. 
Sometimes tar will repel wire-worms, and other insects, 
which live in the soil. When dry kernels are tarred, 
and planted, if the circumstances necessary to eifect a 
speedy germination are ever so ftivorable, the seed will 
not germinate under several weeks, because the tar 
excludes the moisture. But, if the kernels are allowed 
to absorb moisture before planting, the tar, even if 
there is a thick coat on the kernels, will not retard 
germination ; for, as the kernels expand, the coating 
of tar will crack, in places, and allow the germ and 
roots to protrude through it. When seed, that has 
been steeped and tarred, is planted in soil, where there 
is but little moisture, the tar protects the kernels, and 
retains the moisture, and the seed germinates sooner 
than it would were it planted without steeping. After 
the seed has been steeping for ten hours, let it be put 
in a tub and covered with warm water. The object is 
to warm the kernels so that the tar will spread over 
them more evenly. If they are cold, the tar will not 
spread, unless it is applied much thicker than is neces- 
sary. After it has stood in warm water for half an 
hour, turn it into a basket, and have ready about half 
a pint of tar for a bushel, very warm — not hot — and 
pour it on, and stir the grain with a smooth stick until 
every kernel is well coated. 

Marking out the Ground. — The illustration here- 
with given represents an adjustable gauge marker, 
capable of marking roAVS of any desired distance apart. 
The runners R, are about four feet long and eight or 
ten inches high. The cross-pieces a are pinned rigidly 




COUN GKOUND JIAKKER. 



444 todd's country homes. 

to the middle runner, and the two outside runners are 
pinned loosely. At G, a small chain drags in the mark 
made last, to gauge the distance. The handles aid. in 

turning around. I 
have made several 
kinds of markers. 
But, one of this style, 
has always given bet- 
ter satisfaction than 
all others. The seat 
S may be omitted, if the driver prefers to foot it. The 
tongue and whiffletrees can be taken from some light 
wagon, or sleigh. Such- a marker will make plain 
marks, where many other kinds would fail. 

Sweet Corn. — Plant good seed in a rich soil in the 
garden, putting the kernels about eight inches apart in 
the drills, with rows thirty inches apart. Give the 
plants level cultivation. Do not permit the hoe to be 
thrust so deep into the soil, near the hills, as to cut off 
most of the roots. Plant a few hills quite early, and 
cover them during cold days and nights with two wide 
boards placed over a drill, like the roof of a building. 
Corn should not be planted in the field, until the leaves 
of trees have begun to appear, as wet and cold weather 
is very destructive to the young plants. Level culti- 
vation is better than hills. Avoid root pruning by 
running the plow close to the growing plants. 

IRISH POTATOES— SOLANUM TUBEROSUM. 
" O, potatoes, they grow small, over there ! 
You niList eat them tops and all ; — coarse the fare." 

Potatoes require a deep, rich soil, free from an excess 
of water, and clean culture. This vegetable is suscep- 
tible of a wonderful improvement by selecting the best 



OBTAINING NEW VARIETIES. 445 

and earliest seed-tubers for planting, and by the appli- 
cation of the right kind of fertilizers. But by inju- 
dieious management a good variety may be run out in 
a few years. Let the small and inferior tubers be 
planted for a few successive seasons, "and the crop will 
scarcely be worth digging. Growing potatoes need a 
bountiful application of wood-ashes scattered around 
the hills. If a quart or more were scattered in each 
hill when the seed is planted, and the seed were selected 
with care every season, potatoes would soon become so 
hardy that no rot would be seen. 

Peopagating New Varieties. — If the seed which 
is found in the balls of potatoes be removed from the 
pulp, and dried, with care — in the same manner as 
tomato seed is saved — and planted in a good soil the 
following spring, the young plants will produce small 
tubers, which should be kept during the winter in a 
box containing dry sand or loam, and be planted the 
second year ; and the product of the third year will be 
as perfect as one can ever expect to obtain from those 
tubers. Sometimes the tubers will all be very much 
like the original tubers from which the balls grew; 
and sometimes the product of the same seed will appear 
in a variety of colors and forms. Therefore, by select- 
ing those specimens of different colors and of different 
forms, and by continuing to j)laiit them for a few 
seasons, a variety of potatoes entirely different from 
those from which they sprang may be obtained. 

Potato Planters. — Where large quantities of po- 
tatoes are cultivated, if the ground is in a fine condi- 
tion, potatoes may be planted with a horse planter. 
The accompanying illustration represents a machine 



446 



TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 



which was invented by a gentleman in Maine, for 
planting potatoes. The soil is thoroughly pulverized, 
and made level and smooth with a harrow. Then, po- 
tatoes are put into the hopper ; and, as the machine is 
drawn by a horse, a quantity of potatoes, sufficient for 
a hill, drops into a recess, in the bottom of the hopper, 

when a slide forces 
them against a 
knife, which cuts 
off all that extends 
below it, and cuts 
and drops, and 
marks out, and 
covers and rolls the 




POTATO PLANTER. 



hills, sixteen or eighteen inches apart, at one ojDcration. 
The row thus rolled, serves as a guide, in regulating 
the distance apart for the rows, when the planter re- 
turns. 

How TO Eaise Early Potatoes. — Potatoes require 
several successive days and nights of a temperature 
uniformly warm in order to start the eyes. If a por- 
tion of the time during the day is warm, and the nights 
be cold, potatoes will not grow much. There are two 
ways of starting potatoes early in the spring, which 
may be practiced with good success where a few hills 
are desired for the table of a small family. One con- 
venient way is to select the best specimens for seed ; 
and having put them in a cag, hang them up over head 
in the kitchen, or some other room where a fire is 
kept. As soon as the sprouts have got a good start, if 
the soil is warm, let them be planted. If the soil has 
become warmed up by the influences of the weather. 



CULTIVATIOjq" OF CAULIFLOWERS. 447 

potatoes that have been started in this way will grow 
very fast, and produce mature tubers in a short time. 
Great care must be exercised, when they are planted, 
that the long sprouts be not broken off. If the long 
sprouts be broken off, a loss in their growth must be 
sustained. 

Another and still better way to start a few hills early 
in the season is, to make a trough of boards about one 
foot wide and four or five inches deep. Let this be 
hung up in the kitchen, where the temperature will be 
uniform from day to day. Now procure a quantity of 
sods, where the soil is in a good state of fertility, and 
cut them into pieces four inches square. Cut a lot of 
small pieces from the seed end of potatoes, as they are 
prepared for the table, and put a piece between two 
pieces of sod, with the grass sides together, and place 
them in the trough. In two or three weeks the pota- 
toes wdll have started well, and each set of sods may 
be taken from the trough and transplanted, without 
retarding their growth. The sods must be watered 
every few days while they are in the trough. If they 
are allowed to become too dry, the tender roots will be 
injured. 

Cultivation of Cauliflowers. — This kind of veg- 
etable cannot be produced without excellent seed, and 
rich ground. If the seed be inferior, and the soil in a 
poor state of fertility, the plants will not head. Large 
heads of cabbage can be produced, where nothing but 
cauliflower leaves will grow. If it be desirable to pro- 
duce early cauliflowers, the seed may be sown in rows, 
from the 10th to the 20th of September, according to 
latitude. On the approach of cold weather, the young 



448 todd's countet homes. 

plants must be pricked out in cold frames, and carefully 
carried through the winter by airing in fine days. 
Early in the spring they must be moved to other 
frames, and transplanted at a greater space between 
them so as to bring them well forward. About the 
latter part of April, or beginning of May, they can be 
removed to the open ground, after it has been made 
rich with well-rotted manure. After setting, top-dress 
the soil around the plants with wood-ashes or guano. 
It is better to plant them between the rows of early 
peas, or in some place where they are partially screened 
from the sun. Some think it less labor to sow seed in 
a cold frame, well protected, in February, and trans- 
plant, from time to time, in newly prepared frames, so 
as to bring them well forward in time to plant in the 
open air. This latter plan is being now adopted by 
some of our most experienced gardeners. Cauliflower 
seed may also be sown about the 20th of May, in drills 
a foot or more apart, on ground well prepared and 
top-dressed with wood-ashes. Keep plants free from 
weeds, hoeing carefully or digging between the rows 
with a " spading " fork. The plants will be ready to 
transplant from the first to the end of July, and may 
be transplanted, no matter how large, if carefully lifted 
(not pulled) up with a fork, taking any favorable time 
in moist weather to transplant. To ensure success, 
select the planting ground early in spring, dig holes 
two and one-half or three feet apart, taking out from 
one-half to a bushel of earth ; put in from a peck to one- 
half bushel of well-rotted manure, mixing it well with 
the earth dug out as it is thrown back into the hole, 
thus forming a nice hill. Let this lay till time to set 



HOW TO RAISE GOOD CABBAGES. 449 

plants, then fork it up and set one plant to each hill, 
top-dressing each plant with a handful of wood-ashes. 
How TO Raise good Cabbages. — In order to get 
superior seed, set out a large cabbage — head and all — 
early in the spring. With a large knife cut the head 
open on the top down almost to the stem. Let two 
central stalks produce seed. Prune off all other stems. 
Such seed will be far superior to that which is pur- 
chased at seed stores. Sow the seed about the 15th 
of September in the open ground. The last part of 
October, transplant in cold frames, one inch by two 
inches. Sashes are placed over the cold frames to pro- 
tect them from the cold, but great care should be taken 
not to allow the plants to grow after the weather be- 
comes cold, and the sashes should be lifted every mild 
day that the thermometer goes above the freezing-point. 
The main thing is to keep the plants dormant during 
winter, for if they grow during the winter, they will 
not be able to withstand the extreme cold weather, since 
the ground is frequently frozen under the sash from 
two to three inches. If the sash is covered with snow, 
it is not necessary to uncover the frame if the snow 
does not remain longer than ten days. But they want 
watching, as the ground-mice are most destructive to 
young plants. In March, if the temperature be moder- 
ate, the sash should be taken entirely off, but if very 
cold, the plants had better be covered at night. The 
first of April they may be set out in the field. Where 
the soil is light and porous, the soil around the plants 
should be " well firmed " around the roots. The soil 
for cabbages should be well manured, and the surface 
kept clean by frequent hoeings. 

29 



450 todd's countky homes, 

apples and other fruit. 

"The apple trees, whose trunks are strong to bear 
Their spreading boughs, sustain themselves in air, 
Want no supply, but stand secure alone. 
Till, with the ruddy fruit the bending branches groan." 

As my space appropriated to fruit is so limited, I 
must necessarily omit matter that would fill a large 
number of pages. If a beginner will make himself 
familiar with the details given under this head, he 
will understand how to propagate and rear peach trees, 
cherry trees, plum trees, and all other kinds of fruit 
trees. Pear trees and apple trees require management 
so nearly alike that I do not deem it necessary to pen 
directions for the management of pears. When read- 
ing my suggestions on apples, let the word pears be 
substituted for apples, and the reader will have all the 
instructions desirable for cultivating pears. 

Planting an Orchard. — There is so much unre- 
liable reading about apples and pears now afloat, that 
a beginner, in any section of the country, will always 
succeed far more satisfactorily to adhere to a few plain 
and practical details than to attempt to follow the 
directions of half a dozen authors, no two of which will 
agree as touching certain varieties, and in regard to 
some other points which are dependent entirely on 
local causes for either success or failure. Only a little 
common sense, judiciously exercised, is requisite to 
enable a beginner to plant either an apple or a pear 
orchard, with the confident assurance that his labor 
will be rewarded, after a few years, with bountiful 
crops of choice fruit. There are serious causes of fail- 
ure in the production of apples, which a beginner must 
understand, before he can calculate on success. With 



PEEPARING THE SOIL FOR FRUIT TREES. 451 

nurserymen who have trees to sell, and who have no 
further anxiety than simply to produce trees which 
will command a high price, a tree that will never pro- 
duce a satisfactory crop of fruit is just as good as one 
that will yield annually a bountiful crop. There are 
untold numbers of worthless apple trees sold every 
season which will never yield one-fourth the amount 
of a fair crop, and yet, to all external appearances, 
they were, when transplanted, smooth, thrifty and 
superior trees. If a tree has not been produced prop- 
erly, it can never be expected to yield a satisfactory 
crop of fruit, and when apple trees that have been pro- 
duced as such trees should be grown are not managed 
correctly, they will not yield a supply of fruit. The 
nursery business has been engaged in by such a large 
number of persons who are utterly ignorant of the 
fundamental requirements in order to produce bearing 
trees, that our country is overstocked with worthless 
fruit trees, which appear all right, but which, with 
superior management, will never yield a satisfactory 
crop of fruit. 

Preparation of the Soil for Fruit Trees. — 

" High as the topmost boughs to heaven ascend, 
So low the roots to hell's dominion tend." — Drtden's Virgil. 

In many sections of the country, the subsoil, and the 
entire earth beneath the surface soil, is so porous, that 
roots of fruit trees will strike downward, quite as 
rapidly, and as far, as the stems grow upwards. In 
other places, the earth is so compact and impenetrable, 
by the roots of growing trees, that they find it almost 
impossible to enter the hard substratum. It is of emi- 
nent importance that the soil, where a fruit tree is to 
grow, should be so porous, that roots can readily strike 



452 todd's countky homes. 

down several feet. In the sandy and loamy regions, I 
have often seen the stumps of young trees lifted having 
a tap-root nine feet in length. Roots would never strike 
so far into the earth, if they were not in quest of plant- 
food and moisture. When the surface of the earth, in 
hot weather, is parched with heat, these roots that ex- 
tend to moist ground, absorb, and bring up necessary 
supplies for the growing trees. Therefore, if the ground 
is so compact, that roots cannot enter readily, let the 
entire surface of a field be subsoiled thoroughly, and 
deep, by running the subsoil plow in two or three di- 
rections with a strong double team. 

The writer once prepared heavy land for an orchard, 
by throwing the ground in high ridges with a three- 
horse plow. As there was no sod on the surface, a ridge 
was formed midway between the places for the rows, 
and the ground was plowed several times, until a broad 
and deep middle furrow was produced, where the trees 
were to grow. The ground was then staked out, when 
holes six feet in diameter, were dug twenty inches 
deeper, in the hard earth, than the plow had been 
drawn. Mellow soil was then carted from another 
field, and shoveled into the holes. About half a wagon 
load was deposited in each hole. As one man shoveled 
from the wagon, another returned the hard earth that 
had been removed from the holes. Rich turf was also 
plowed up along the highway, and carted into the 
holes. After they were filled, the ridges were all 
plowed down level, after which the trees were set in 
their places. A small proportion of the trees, even 
with such an excellent preparation of soil, would not 
thrive satisfactorily; and they never will produce a 



THE TRUE WAY TO PRODUCE FRUIT TREES. 453 

satisfactory crop, for the reason hinted at, in a preced- 
ing paragraph, which is, those trees had not been bred 
according to the requirement of vegetable physiology. 
Such trees can never be relied upon, any more than a 
herdsman can depend on the veriest scrubs of neat 
cattle for superior animals. 

The True Way to Produce Fruit Trees. — A 
beginner may listen to the talk of those who have fruit 
trees to sell ; and yet, if he desires to obtain trees that 
will supply him with fruit, and be a choice heritage to 
his successors, let him begin right, by selecting the seed 
from apples or pears with his own hands, plant them 
where the trees are to grow, bud the young trees, 
and train and cultivate them for a few years, until 
they have obtained sufficient size to require but little 
more care. Not one-fourth part of the seeds, from 
which the thousands of fruit trees in nurseries have 
sprung, were any more fit for producing valuable trees 
than the half-ripe and shrunken kernels of wheat and 
other grain are suitable for producing a bountiful crop. 

Now, then, what does a beginner desire to accom- 
plish ? What end has he in view, near or remote, in 
the future? Why, simply, the object to be attained 
is hardy, thrifty, j^roductive trees, which will not fail 
to yield fair crops of excellent fruit every season. 
There is but little difficulty in accomplishing all that 
may be desired, if one can find a hardy, fruit-bearing 
tree in his vicinity. It is assumed that the stock of a 
fruit tree will exert a marked influence on the produc- 
tion of the fruit with which it may be grafted. The 
Rhode Island Greening is a fair bearer, in all sections 
of the country where the tree has not been starved. 



454 todd's country homes. 

The English Streaks and the Romanites are also hardy 
and naturally prolific. Select a few of the fairest 
apples of these varieties, and plant only the largest 
and most perfect seeds. In some of the specimens 
there may not be a single seed fit to plant. In others, 
one seed only can be found. The same principle will 
hold good with pears, or any other fruit. None but 
the test seeds must be selected. The fruit of any pear 
tree that is hardy, and has produced a crop every 
season for several successive years, may be selected, 
from which to obtain a supply of seed for raising young 
pear trees. As soon as they are removed from the 
fruit, before the kernels have been allowed to dry, 
mingle them with sand a little moist, and keep them 
in a cool cellar until cold weather. Then plunge the 
box in the ground, so that the seeds will not freeze. 

Early in the growing season, stake out the ground, 
which is supposed to be as mellow as a carrot-bed, run 
a crowbar down four feet into the earth, where each 
tree is to stand, make a large hole, fill it with rich soil, 
and plant two or three seeds, about one inch deep. 
Stick the seeds point downwards, so that they will 
come up without difficulty. Cover them with fine 
loam. The seeds should not be planted more than one 
inch apart. If they all grow, the best stem only should 
be allowed to stand. A strong stake should be driven 
into the ground, before the seeds are planted ; and the 
seeds should be stuck in about six inches from the 
stake, on the south side. The object of the stakes is 
to protect the young trees. If the soil is sufficiently 
fertile to yield fair crops of grain or potatoes, the tap- 
root of every young tree will strike four feet into the 



HABIT OF TREES AND PLANTS. 455 

-earth the first season; and the tops "will grow like 
sparagrass and spread like applesass." As soon as the 
young trees are large enough, they should be inocu- 
lated with buds taken from the topmost branches of 
trees that always bear a bountiful crop. If the land be 
kept clean, and if the surface or coronal roots are not 
mutilated and torn from the stump, every tree, at the 
end of ten years, will have attained a higlit of over 
twenty feet, and will be loaded with fruit, while many 
ordinary nursery trees, planted in the usual manner, 
will never yield a fair crop. Never allow a plow to 
come within six feet of a young tree. But keep the 
surface mulched, to keep down all vegetation. Culti- 
vate hoed crops between the rows, and pile on the 
manure. Purchase all the ashes you can get in the 
neighborhood, to scatter around fruit trees and bushes. 
After the trees have come into full bearing, stock down 
the land with some kind of clover. Never allow a 
careless booby to plow in an orchard, nor to prune the 
trees. Adopt this brief system, and you will be sur- 
prised to see how soon a bearing orchard can be pro- 
duced. Treat all kinds of trees in the foregoing 
manner. 

The Habit of Trees and Plants. — By the habit 
of plants is understood the peculiar manner of growth. 
For example : Hop-vines turn around the pole, always 
in one direction, and the climbers of beans ascend in 
the opposite direction. When a boy, I frequently 
wound some vines around the poles in the opposite di- 
rection, and tied the ends. But, in every instance, as 
the vines grew longer, they would turn short around, 
and climb the poles in the natural way. This is called 



456 todd's countkt homes. 

the hahit of a growing plant. Some horticultural 
writers have alluded to ^^ the habits'' of plants, as one 
refers to the habits of a moral, or immoral person. 
Growing plants have only a hahit — not habits. All 
trees and plants have a habit of throwing out coronal 
roots, just below the surface of the soil. The stalks of 
Indian corn send out brace roots near the surface. This 
is one habit of the corn. All fruit trees throw out a 
system of roots near the surface of the ground. If a 
mound a foot high and several feet broad be raised 
around a young tree, a system of coronal roots will be 
formed near the surface of the mound. This is called 
the habit of the tree. Turnips and carrots send a long 
tap-root down deep into the soil. That is the habit of 
the plant. Wliere the subsoil is so porous, that grow- 
ing plants can send a tap-root, or a number of roots 
down deep into the earth, we often find them extend- 
ing down to a surprising depth. They go down after 
nourishment and water, and they find what they seek. 
In order to cultivate trees, shrubs, flowers and vege- 
tables, the cultivator needs to have a thorough knowl- 
edge of the peculiar habit of such plants as he culti- 
vates. 

Forking vs. Spading around Trees and Plants. — 
The soil beneath and round about young trees^ and 
especially annual plants, should be thoroughly com- 
minuted before the seed is put in, or the growing plant 
transplanted, so that the roots need not be disturbed. 
Annual plants and young trees have no roots to part 
with. For this reason, the fork should be employed, 
instead of the spade, for pulverizing the ground, where 
there are roots, as the spade will cut off all the small 



FORKING YS. SPADING. 457 

rootlets, to the injury of the tree. The tines of a fork 
will crowd the roots aside, seldom breaking even the 
small ones. Then, as the hard soil is broken up with 
fork-tines, and removed from the roots and returned to 
them thoroughly pulverized, all the little fibres are 
brought in contact with different portions of soil, that 
has not been exhausted of its fertility. Thus compara- 
tively new earth settles around the roots, so that in a 
short time the spongioles begin to absorb plant-food. 
Now, if a spade be used, such a large proportion of the 
roots will be severed that much of the source of plant- 
food will be cut off. Great care should be exercised, 
whether the soil is pulverized with fork or spade, to mu- 
tilate the roots as little as possible, especially around an- 
nuals. When the soil is only a few inches deep, and the 
subsoil so compact that but few roots can enter it, a care- 
less man with a spade will cut off more than half of all 
the roots which are the main sources of nourishment, 
and the growth of the tree or plant will be retarded 
quite as much as if it had just been transplanted. 
When a spadeful of soil is filled with small rootlets and 
fibres, the spader had better be spending his time in 
idleness, than mutilating the roots of either ornamental 
or fruit trees. Growing corn, potatoes and vegetables 
are often set back in growth, many days by injurious 
root pruning. Strawberry plants are frequently injured 
by hoeing up the soil near the plants, and cutting off 
most of the roots. If weeds abound, let them be 
pulled up, rather than dug up, if they grow near the 
tender plants. 

Why, When, and How to Prune. — Pruning trees 
of any kind, shrubs, vines or bushes, as they should be 



458 todd's countky homes. 

pruned, is a science requiring the exercise of more skill 
and mature judgment than is requisite to do anything 
else connected with the growing of plants and fruit, 
from the time the tiny seed is laid in the fertile soil 
until the branches are bending beneath an abundant 
yield of luscious fruit. The cultivator should have a 
perfect understanding of what he desires to accomplish 
by pruning. Before he severs a single bud, he should 
understand the laws of vegetable physiology so far as 
they affect the flow of sap. There is no chance for 
correcting bad mistakes in pruning. If one pinches 
off a bud that should remain, it will be ruinous to the 
form of the tree or bush. There was never a more 
egregious error promulgated than to allow a bush or 
tree to grow at pleasure for a few years, and then give 
it a thorough and severe pruning with saws and axes. 
Yet this is, and has been, the practice all over the 
country ever since trees were planted out; and the 
ruinous consequences of such pruning are manifest 
wherever large apple trees are found, in the decaying 
trunks where large branches were cut ofl^ and because 
the wounds were so large nature could not heal them. 
This is one of the prominent causes of the failure of the 
apple crop in New England and in other localities. 
When a surgeon is about to amputate a man's limb, he 
can assign a satisfactory reason for the operation. So 
when a pomologist is about to prune off certain 
branches, he should first ask, what do I propose to ac- 
complish by removing this part of the tree ? Some- 
times when he thinks that the removal of a branch will 
improve the general shape of the tree, let him bend the 
branch a little out of its natural place, so as to show 



WHERE TO CUT OFF BRANCHES. 459 

how the tree would look if this limb were cut off; and 
if the result is not satisfactory, don't cut it. There is a 
tendency to trim too much. Beware of this overdoing 
the matter. There was a time when excessive pruning 
was very fashionable, even among professional orchard- 
ists, but they have learned better. The current of 
opinion is setting so strongly the other way now, that 
some are advocating no pruning at all. Probably this 
will be found as much the other extreme, and in due 
time we may expect the true mode to be settled upon. 
The correct way to prune is to set up before the mind 
a heau ideal of the form of tree or bush desired. Then, 
all through the growing season, the buds should be 
watched closely. If a bud appears where a branch is 
not desired, pinch it off; and leave buds on the main 
stem wherever a branch is desired. Grafts from scions 
that were set last season should be examined fre- 
quently, to see if the main stems and lateral branches 
are all growing uniformly. 

Where to cut off Branches. — Nature has indi- 
cated, even in the smallest twigs, the proper place to 
cut off a branch. By examining a branch close to the 
body of a tree, it will be seen that there are creases, 
beads, or rings running around the branch. The place 
to sever a branch, therefore, is close to the first ring. 
Then the wound will heal much sooner than if the ring 
were removed, making the cut smooth with the body 
of the tree. Many tree murderers cut off limbs several 
inches from the main stem. This is the true way to 
make trees decay at the heart of the main stems. 

Treatment of Wounds. — My own practice always 
has been, when pruning trees, to apply a plaster of 



460 todd's country homes. 

grafting wax to every wound, even to such as were no 
larger than my little finger. When large trees were 
pruned, as soon as the last limb was cut off a kettle of 
liquid wax was taken into the tree, and every wound 
was smeared with a heavy coat of wax, applied with a 
brush. Then, a patch of thick paper was pressed 
directly on the wax. It will always pay satisfactorily 
to adopt this practice, in pruning any kind of trees. 
It is eminently important that the wounds should be 
covered with wax. If it is desirable to form a low 
tree having a wide-spreading top, branches must be 
allowed to start from the main stem near the ground. 
Then, let calculations be made to train a stem perpen- 
dicularly in the center of the tree, having lateral 
branches about two feet apart clear to the top. To 
prevent the central stem from shooting upward too 
rapidly, and too far, pinch off the very end of the ter- 
minal bud. We can give the tops of growing trees any 
desired form by simply pinching off the terminal buds 
of the outside branches. By pinching the buds of the 
lateral branches, the sap will be directed to the upright 
stem, and the tree will increase in height. On the 
contrary, let the toiwiost buds be pinched, and the 
sap will push out the lateral branches. When two 
branches near each other do not grow alike, pinch the 
terminal bud of the one that grows more rapidly, and 
the other will soon be even with it. Do not pinch off 
too much at one time. Sometimes it is necessary to 
pinch off only half the length of the terminal leaves. 

Pruning Tools. — When trees and bushes are young, 
they should always be pruned and trained while they 
are growing; and the best instrument that ever was 



MULCHING TREES AND PLANTS. 461 

employed for the purposes of pruning is the thumb- 
nail. No saw, axe, hatchet or pruning-knife, will bear 
any comparison to the efficienc}^ of a strong thumb- 
nail, employed at just the right time, and in the right 
place. In the training of young trees and vines, the 
pruning should begin with the swelling buds. The 
true period to prune anything — tree, bush, vine or 
shrub — is, when such things are }*oung and small, and 
always when the branches are growing. But, when a 
branch is to be taken off, a sharp pruning-knife, or fine- 
toothed saw will be found the most convenient tools. 
If a bush, vine or tree, increase in length faster than 
the stem attains proportional strength and size, apply 
the thumb-nail to the very extremity to check the 
rampant growth. A man should always carry a sharp 
pocket-knife, so that he can remove any branch of a 
young tree, when he happens to be near it. There is 
great danger of pinching off too many buds from the 
stems of young trees. The lower buds should be per- 
mitted to grow the first season to give the young tree 
strength. If all the buds and leaves be pinched off, 
except a little bush at the top of the main stem, the 
trees will grow slowly, and be tali and slender. 

Mulching Trees and Plants. — Almost any material 
that will keep down vegetation around plants and trees, 
may be employed as a mulch. Sawdust, shavings, tan- 
bark, leaves, straw, salt hay, sedge and. coarse barn-yard 
manure may be employed as a mulch. Let it be spread 
over the surface barely thick enough to prevent grass 
and weeds from coming up through. Mulching will be 
far better for fruit trees, shrubs, rose bushes, flowers 
and vegetables than numerous hoeings, during which a 



462 todd's country homes. 

large proportion of the roots will be mutilated. A thin 
mulch will keej) the soil moist, when otherwise, the 
surface would be as dry as dust. Five dollars' worth 
of mulch will often save ten dollars' worth of labor in 
hoeing and watering plants. Many people remove all 
the weeds, and grass to the street, when such things 
should be spread around growing vegetables, as a mulch. 
It is far better for flowers, and garden vegetables, and 
all fruit-producing plants to be mulched, than to be 
watered. Let the mulch be applied when the ground 
is wet, so as to retain the moisture, when ground that 
is not mulched is very dry. 

Wateeing Growing Plants. — Let tillers of the soil 
imitate nature. The earth is never watered by 
showers except in cloudy weather. When the surface 
of the earth is dry as dust, a gentle shower only de- 
scends to moisten the surface, thus preparing it to 
absorb a copious shower. The rain does not fall when 
the sun shines. It will do plants more injury than ben- 
efit to water them when the sun shines. Earth must 
first be rendered damp before it will absorb water rap- 
idly. Many gardeners have such vague and indefinite 
notions of applying water to growing plants, that they 
are frequently watered when the roots do not need 
moisture, and at other times, they suffer for want of 
water. The great secret of success in watering, con- 
sists in furnishing just such an amount of artificial 
supply as the plant needs, without flooding on the one 
hand, or stinting on the other. This must be judged 
of by the actual condition of the plant at the time. In 
some instances, I have known cases where young trees 
have been actually destroyed by injudicious watering. 



HOW TO WATER PLANTS. 463 

Again, we have seen trees perish for want of watering. 
In the latter instances, growth had already commenced, 
and the young leaves were rapidly pumping the water 
from the soil up through the roots and stem, and a 
larger supply was needed than could be obtained. A 
plant in a state of rapid vegetation will consume or 
throw off into the air more than ten times as much 
water as a dormant plant. It is by no means an un- 
common error to pour water on a hard and baked sur- 
face, without descending even a single inch below, nor 
within half a foot of the roots of the plant. Such 
waterings will of course do mare harm than good. It 
would afford instruction to such superficial operators, 
to throw up a little of the soil, and witness the dry, 
ashy earth beneath the thin moistened crust. Water 
will penetrate freely into a mellow and well cultivated 
surface, but the removal of a few inches, to be again 
replaced after watering, will be advisable in most cases 
where the roots lie deep in the soil. 

The Correct way to Water Plants. — When the 
entire earth where a tree or plant is standing, is so dry 
that no moisture can be felt in the fine particles, when 
reduced to powder, a pailful or two of water applied 
to the surface, will not subserve any good purpose, 
toward promoting the growth of the living plant. But, 
if the surface be dug up, and rendered mellow, before 
it is saturated with water, and afterwards covered with 
a mulch that will prevent speedy evaporation of the 
moisture, the roots will not be liable to suffer from 
drouth. It has frequently been recommended when 
watering trees, to haul back about two inches in depth 
of the soil, before the water is applied. Then, return 



464 todd's country homes. 

the dry earth, over the watered surface. This is the 
correct way to water trees and bushes, when no mulch- 
ing material is employed. The only objection to the 
process is the great labor of laying back and returning 
the earth, and the mutilation of roots. As a prevent- 
ive is always preferable to a remedy, it will be found 
far more satisfactory to provide against injury from 
drouth, while the earth is quite moist, by employing 
some material as a mulch. Where the soil is porous, 
and liable to dry out in a short time, a coat of mulching 
material should be spread around every tree and bush, 
in the spring.- Then, there will be little necessity for 
applying water. Before I had learned how to water 
trees and plants, in hot and dry weather, I injured sev- 
eral valuable evergreens, so that they died. I am sat- 
isfied that such a liberal supply of water poured around 
the trees, without digging over the surface, or mulch- 
ing it, was the immediate cause of their dying. 

Spreading the Tops of Fruit Trees. — The branches 
of some kinds of fruit trees are disposed to grow more 
erect than perpendicularly. This is true of Northern 
Spy apple trees, and the White Doyenne or Virgalieu 
pear tree, and some others. Indeed, the tops of some 
kinds of pear trees spread only a few feet, even when 
they have attained a liight of twenty feet. It is de- 
cidedly objectionable to have all the limbs shoot up- 
ward, forming a top so close that a person cannot 
ascend between the limbs to pluck the fruit. More- 
over, the fruit will be fairer, larger, and better, if the 
branches grow at a greater distance from each other, 
so as to let in the light of the sun and admit of a more 
free circulation of air through the dense foliage and 



EXTERMINATION OF INSECTS. 465 

tliickly-set fruit When there is ample space between 
the trees, fasten horizontal spars of wood to the main 
stem of the tree-top, and push the limbs outward each 
way from the middle of the top, and tie them in the 
desired position, with soft strings, to the ends of the 
horizontal spars. A more convenient way will be to 
pass a narrow strip of leather around a branch and nail 
it to the wood. The limbs may be fastened in the de- 
sired position by such means, and kept there for one 
season, when they will remain spread out, thus render- 
ing it more convenient to move around in the tree-top 
when pruning, thinning the fruit, or plucking it. In 
some instances, only a few of the boughs grow erect 
on one side of the tree, which may be thrust outward 
and secured by short spars of wood on one side of the 
middle of the tree-top. 

ExTEEMiNATiNG Insects. — Nostrums and quack 
medicines will not repel insects and caterpillars. They 
must be destroyed by hand. The best method of ex- 
terminating caterpillars, is to look diligently through 
every tree, and cut off every twig which has an embryo 
nest upon it. After a little practice they can be quickly 
detected, and a small pair of pruning-shears, worked by 
a cord on the end of a pole, or a very sharp-hooked 
blade on a pole, will enable the operator to cut them 
off for burning. In the spring and summer, put on a 
pair of leather mittens, climb into fruit trees and crush 
the worms: If people will have fruit, they must kill 
the worms and noxious insects. Then, when cater- 
pillars begin to crawl, let every one be crushed. 

Management of Leaning Trees. — Fruit trees, some- 
times, as well as ornamental trees, will not grow erect 

30 



466 todd's country homes. 

without some aid. When the trees are laden with 
fruit and dense foliage, driving winds will sometimes 
sway the tops so far from an erect position, starting 
thQ roots on one side, so that they never straighten 
up without some artificial means to hold them in the 
desired place until the roots have taken hold of the 
earth so firmly as to keep the top in a perpendicular 
position. Young trees, having most of the roots on 
one side, are liable to lean, and unless they are set 
erect, and held there for one season, or longer, new 
branches will start from the upper side of the lateral 
boughs, and grow perpendicularly. Nature makes an 
effort to keep trees in an erect position, as well as to 
send out limbs on every side to balance the tree. 
When a tree is too large to be kept erect by sods 
pressed firmly against one side of the body, at the sur- 
face of the ground, or by a stake set in the ground 
about two feet from the tree, to which it may be tied 
with a strap, or rope of hay, drive a short stake in the 
ground, ten or more feet distant from the body, and, 
after elevating the top, secure it by a wire extending 
from the stake to the upper part of the body of the 
tree. To shield the bark from injury, attach the end 
of the wire to a leather strap, or piece of hoop-iron, 
and place a few folds of cloth or thick paper under the 
strap. The best time to set such trees erect is at any 
period in the winter or spring when the ground is soft. 
When a tree has grown for several years in an inclined 
direction, it may be necessary to set a post firmly in 
the ground for holding one end of a chain for drawing 
up the tree with a tackle, or with a rope or chain at- 
tached to a lever. A branch, which should extend 



RENOVATING OLD FRUIT TREES. 467 

nearly in a horizontal direction, on one side of a tree, 
will sometimes take almost a perpendicular direction, 
which will destroy the beauty and symmetry of the top. 
By holding such branches for one year in any desired 
position, they will continue to grow as the guy-wires 
held them. 

Cats injuring Fruit Trees. — Some excellent cats, 
that are a terror to rats and mice, are frequently dis- 
posed to try the claws of their fore-paws in the bark 
of young fruit trees. Young male cats always seek a 
small tree, if one be near the house, on the body of 
which they will try their claws in tearing the tender 
bark into shreds. Many valuable fruit trees have been 
so lacerated by the scratching of some dear pussy that 
it has been found impossible to save them. Some cats 
need a place to scratch with their fore-claws, quite as 
much as swine and neat cattle need a rubbing-pole or 
a rough post, against which they may allay the con- 
stant irritation of the skin. There are two ways of 
preventing injury to young trees by the scratching of 
cats, one of which is to nail narrow strips of boards or 
pieces of lath to the body of the tree. If the boards 
be of soft timber they will subserve the purpose re- 
quired as a scratching-post. Another preventive is to 
place a soft-wood pole or limb of another tree by the 
side of the scratching-tree. 

Renovating Old Fruit Trees. — Old pear trees fre- 
quently become " hide-bound." In other language, the 
bark becomes so hard and dry that the diameter of the 
body of the tree cannot enlarge. This hard and firm 
bark will not yield, or give way to the expansive force 
of the sap and new wood, but little more than if it 



468 todd's country homes. 

were tin or sheet-iron. As a natural and certain result, 
the health of the tree is impaired, and the fruit can 
not grow fair, large, and delicious, as it would be, were 
the bark kept in a healthy condition. The bark of a 
healthy growing tree is more or less elastic, and as a 
new circle of wood is formed, the bark- enlarges by 
expanding, and in some places cracking apart. After 
a few years, scales of dead bark cover the body of the 
tree, which should be scraped off, clear to the live bark. 
Sometimes it may be necessary to shave it off with a 
drawing-knife. If the tree is very old and grows but 
little, I have frequently removed the outside half-way 
through the live bark, afterward smearing the body 
with a thin coat of liquid grafting-wax, applied warm 
with a brush. This is essential to the health of old 
apple as well as pear trees. The bark of peach and 
plum trees should not be cut beyond the dead bark. 
Another thing is, the soil needs renewing. Perhaps 
for more than forty years a crop of fruit has been pro- 
duced from that ground where old trees stand, without 
having received any fertilizing material to compensate 
for the long succession of crops of fruit. When this 
is the case, remove six or eight inches in depth of the 
old soil, with horses and scraper, and haul rich alluvial, 
or sods from the highway side, in place of what has 
been removed. Mingle with this earth, sawdust, and 
chip-manure, and wood-ashes, the more the better. 
Let the whole be spaded in deep and thoroughly, with 
a few bushels of lime, and some barn-yard manure. In 
a year or two, if the trees are not too old, and if they 
have not been neglected too long, they will again bear 
like young trees. Another economical and effective 



CULTIVATION OF GOOSEBERRIES. 469 

manner of making old trees bear well, is to enclose each 
tree in the middle of a small yard, say sixteen or twenty 
feet square, and keep a few swine in it while fattening. 
Make holes eight inches deep, with a crow-bar, in scores 
of places beneath the tree, dropping into each one a 
few kernels of grain. The swine will shortly root up 
every inch of ground, destroying all the roots of weeds 
and grass, and renovating the soil with the fecal matr 
ter which they deposit, so that the next season, the 
trees will bear abundantly. I have tried this, with the 
best of results, on old pear and old cherry trees. Au- 
tumn is the best time to attend to it. But swine 
should not be kept in an enclosure around fruit trees 
longer than thirty or forty days. Coarse and ferment- 
able manures are not proper for fruit trees. Those of 
the stable and barn-yard should never come in contact 
with the trees of a fruit garden. They are less dan- 
gerous in open apple orchards, but even these should 
not be used around young trees, as they cause rapid, 
soft and irregularly formed trees. The inorganic ma- 
nures may be used with much greater safety and with 
better results. Moderate doses of lime, more generous 
ones of wood ashes, are always profitable. PhosjDhates 
of all kinds are useful, if free from putrescent matter. 
Even Peruvian guano, if applied at all, should be slightly 
dug in late in the fall, so as to become thoroughly divi- 
ded by winter rains. 

Cultivation" of Gooseberries. — 

" The gooseberry green, first fruit of the year, 
In pudding or pie, affords exquisite cheer." 

Very few people can succeed in raising this fruit, 
simply because they do not understand the require- 
ments of growing bushes. In the best gooseberry 



470 todd's country homes. 

plantations of Philadelphia, it is no unusual sight to 
see rows of them which have been in one place per- 
haps twenty years, so mounded up with rubbish that 
they look as if they were planted on ridges two or 
three feet above the level of the earth, every year 
bearing abundantly. The gooseberry is a mountain 
fruit, and the bush does not like a hot soil. If we plant 
it so that the hot sun will pour down on the cleanly 
cultivated earth, we cannot get gooseberries. But set 
them in a pretty thick row, and pile up about the 
bushes five or six inches deep of old brush-wood, old 
corn-roots, old leather shavings, pots or kettles even, 
if you cannot get anything else, so that the roots will 
always be near the surface, and yet cool; and I will 
guarantee a bountiful yield of fruit. 

Enemies of Gooseberries. — We have perfect do- 
minion of these. One is mildew, and the other, the 
little white currant worm. Scatter wood-ashes abund- 
antly around the growing bushes, and no mildew will 
appear. Put a few cents worth of white hellebore 
powder into a pepper-box, and sprinkle a little all over 
the bushes, on the worms. The least atom will poison 
the worms, so that they will die with all sorts of fits, 
in a few minutes. Propagate the bushes as currants 
are grown. (See Currants.) 

Cultivation of Currants. — All the different vari- 
eties may be propagated, and the bushes trained and 
cultivated alike. The currant is a plant that possesses 
great vitality, and will grow in almost any kind of soil 
or situation, but to bring it to perfection, and make its 
culture profitable, it requires good culture, and a deep 
rich soil. It succeeds better in a heavy loam, approach- 



CULTIVATION OF CURRANTS. 471 

ing a clay, than in a light sandy soil. Quinces, currants, 
gooseberries, grapes and some other kinds of fruit and 
flowering shrubs, may be propagated by cuttings in a 
shorter period of time, than by planting the seed and 
grafting, or budding the stocks. The best way to do it 
.on a small scale is, to select the cutting a short time 
before the growing season commences, or at any period 
in the winter when the branches are not frozen. The 
ends of the branches that grew the previous season 
should be selected, as the wood is not so firm, and roots 
will start sooner than from branches a year or more 
old. The cuttings should be from four to six inches 
long. One bud above the surface of the ground is suf- 
ficient, and the cuttings should extend at least four 
inches into the damp earth, in order to insure perpet- 
ual moisture, after the ends of the twigs have become 
calloused and the roots begin to form. When the 
cuttings are planted shallow, with the lower ends not 
more than one or two inches below the surface of the 
soil, they are not so liable to live as if planted deeper, 
unless special care be exercised in applying water. 
Cuttings planted early in fall will usually become rooted 
by the time winter sets in, and this too, without their 
buds pushing into leaf. The next season they will 
make a far better growth than if their planting is de- 
ferred until spring. Single bud cuttings will sometimes 
grow quite readily if planted in the open ground, pro- 
vided the surface of the soil above them is covered with 
a mulch. Sawdust or tan-bark is better for mulching 
the cutting bed than straw or leaves. 

Currant bushes may be pruned in the winter ; and 
the bushes should be manured in autumn, every alter- 



472 todd's countet homes. 

nate year ; and the soil should be kept clean and mel- 
low till after bearing. Then if all old wood is kept cut 
away, and young shoots appear, something like the re- 
newal system of 23runing grapes, good cultivation will 
give heavy crops of fine, large currants from the same 
bushes for a life-time. When bushes are trained to a 
single stem, borers are more liable to injure the stems, 
than when they grow in bushes. Currant worms may 
be destroyed by dusting the powder of white hellebore 
over them, in small quantities. (See Gooseberries.) 
The currant readily adapts itself to all kinds of soils and 
latitudes. It seems proof against almost any amount 
of freezing and thawing. When preparing the soil to 
receive the plants, whether in the form of a cutting or 
rooted plants, the ground should be trenched from six- 
teen inches to two feet deep. If the subsoil is a stiff 
clay calculated to hold water, two feet of depth will be 
required. When of a character not to hold water a 
less depth will answer. . Lime and ashes answer an ex- 
cellent purpose around currant bushes. Where it can 
be had a good mixture of hog-stable or horse-stable 
manure is excellent. Until the bushes are established, 
keep down all weeds and stir the soil about the roots 
frequently. After coming into bearing, always keep 
the plant well mulched in bearing season, during which 
the soil should be undisturbed. 

Management of Old Cureant Bushes. — When old 
bushes are standing where grass and weeds have taken 
possession of the ground, it will be useless to attempt 
to exterminate the noxious plants by digging them up, 
as the currant roots lie mostly, near the surface of the 
ground. The better v/ay will be to smother all vegeta- 



CULTUKE OF STKAWBERRIES. 473 

tion, by covering the ground around them to the depth 
of two or three inches with tan bark, putting some 
half a dozen shovelfuls into the center of each bush. 
This will operate to a charm. The grass will be ex- 
terminated, and the next season the bushes will yield 
bountifully. I am satisfied that vegetable dressino- is 
equally as good, if not better, for trees and shrubbery 
than barn-yard manure, unless it is very coarse. Let 
all the old dead branches be removed, cut into small 
pieces, laid on the ground near the bushes, and covered 
with mulch. Sawdust, chip-dirt, leather shavings, lit- 
ter from iron founderies and blacksmith's shops and all 
such materials will make superior mulch for currant and 
gooseberry bushes. Currant bushes need also a liberal 
supply of lime, or wood- ashes, or both, scattered around 
them. Old lime mortar is excellent for such a purpose. 
Gooseberry bushes require the same treatment as cur- 
rant bushes. 

Culture of Strawberries. — Strawberry vines re- 
quire a rich dry and mellow soil, and thorough mulch- 
ing. This is all that good bearing vines need to pro- 
duce an abundance of fruit. Keep poultry away from 
the vines in the former part of the growing season, as 
they will " pick out all the buds out," and destroy the 
crop of fruit. Do not allow a hoe nor any other tool 
that will mutilate the roots, to be used near the hills 
until after the crop has been gathered. Many people 
have all their strawberries destroyed by poultry, and 
by hoes, and then lay the failure to the variety. Let 
the ground be mulched early in the spring, with straw 
or coarse manure, or anything that will keep the 
ground moist and prevent grass and weeds from grow- 



474 todd's country homes. 

ing. Get plants from a bed that bears, and the vines 
will be sure to yield fruit. For many seasons, I could 
never raise any strawberries, simply because the hens 
devoured all the fruit-producing buds. Strawberry 
plants set properly in the spring will grow and flourish 
as easily as a potato patch, while those set in the latter 
part of summer require the utmost care to keep them 
alive, by supjjlying moisture and shade to protect them 
from the scorching sun. Next spring the few plants 
that may have stood the unnatural treatment will be 
smothered in a rank growth of grass, that will require 
more labor and expense to keep down, than would 
pay for all the strawberries that would grow on the 
weakly plants thus treated. Strawberries planted in 
the fall require so much more labor and attention to 
make them succeed than when planted in the spring 
that it can only be recommended when the object is to 
obtain some new and choice variety, the value of which 
will compensate for the extra care required to grow a 
few plants out of season. 

Blackberries and Raspberries. — The first and 
most important consideration in the cultivation of these 
kinds of fruit, is good sets for planting, which should 
be grown on clean and mellow soil, so as to secure 
plants with strong, fibrous roots ; for the better the 
plants the larger will be the yield. Sets should never 
be taken up in the spring, particularly blackberries. 
One reason is, they start so very early that many of 
the shoots are broken, which delays the much-needed 
early growth. Raspberry plants, the first year, have 
an immense amount of small fibrous roots, which start 
the canes to growing as soon as the frost is out of the 



BLACKBERRIES AND RASPBERRIES. 475 

ground. The second year they throw out long tap- 
roots, to which are attached the fine, thread-like fibres, 
from which the plants derive their nourishment. 

The blackberry is very different in its growth. It 
has not those fine, fibrous roots to take up its food like 
the raspberry. The sets spring up from the long tap- 
roots, which run in all directions, giving it the advan- 
tage of the raspberry set, by drawing on the parent 
stalk for its support, thus causing it to start very early. 
The sets should be dug in the fall and heeled in on a 
dry sj)ot where they can be shaded, if need be, from the 
warm sun, so as to kee-p them from starting before the 
soil can be prepared for planting them out, which should 
be done as soon as possible in the spring. Plant the 
young bushes seven or eight feet apart in rows, and 
four feet distant in the rows, and mulch the ground 
around the bushes to keep down all vegetation. As 
soon as the crop is gathered all the old wood should be 
removed, and from that time till near the end of the 
season the growth of the new shoots should be encour- 
aged, as it is on these that the fruit grows next year. 
It will be better to permit to grow to each hill only 
five or six of the most vigorous canes, removing all 
others. When these have attained the hight of five 
feet or so, the ends should be pinched off so as to in- 
duce the canes to put out lateral branches. Towards 
the close of the season the growth should be checked 
rather than encouraged, so that when winter comes the 
canes will present nothing but thoroughly ripened 
wood. If they are now bent down to the ground, and 
leaves from the forest strewed plentifully over them, 
the culturist may feel an almost absolute assurance of 



476 todd's oountky homes. 

having a splendid crop the ensuing season — let the 
weather during the winter be never so severe. It may 
be well to take this precaution for a portion of the 
vines every autumn, although after ordinary winters 
good crops can be obtained without it. In the spring 
the surface soil should be nicely cleaned, and the canes 
shortened in, and the five or six to each hill tied to a 
stake or to trellises. 

Cultivation of Grapes. — 

Beautiful grapes ! such food for the blood, 
For the brain, the nerves, the ethereal spirit ! 
But clianged to wine, now fire and not food, 
All-consuming fire, that ardent spirit ! 

Volumes have been written on grapes by men who as- 
sume to be familiar with all the requirements of the 
vine. And yet in some instances, writers who are ac- 
cepted authorities, are found to entertain notions dia- 
metrically opposed to each other. One reposes all 
confidence in a certain style of pruning. According 
to his notions, no grapes of any account, can be pro- 
duced, if the vines are not pruned and trained accord- 
ing to his ^^pet theory.'" Another accepted authority 
on grapes, will denounce such a writer, as a "stupid 
ass," knowing nothing at all about the requirements 
of the vine, and the correct mode of pruning and train- 
ing. The consequence is that beginners are bewil- 
dered, and confused with doubts, to such an extent, that 
they really do not know how to train their vines, how 
to prune, when to cut, where to apply the knife, or 
whether to allow the vines to grow unmolested, and pro- 
duce fruit or not, just as the case may be. I am per- 
sonally acquainted with a writer on grapes, near New 
York City, who has acquired a world-wide reputation 



CULTIVATION OF GRASS. 477 

as reliable authority on this kind of fruit, with whom 
the manner of pruning is everything. And yet, he 
complains, that many kinds of grapes will not succeed 
round about New York, because he has not been able 
to get fruit on his vines that are growing in a light 
and unproductive soil, where the grape roots could not 
possibly find a sufficient quantity of available grape- 
producing material to develop one single bunch of 
fruit. Those very vines that have failed to produce 
fruit, for several seasons past, were the roots supplied 
with grape-producing material, such as the flesh and 
bones of dead animals, and a few bushels of wood-ashes 
and lime, would be literally loaded with large bunches 
of plump berries. There is not a shadow of a doubt 
on this point. But grape-vines cannot develop fruit, 
out of nothing, any more than a good cow can yield a 
liberal flow of rich milk, while her feed is nothing but 
straw and water. Let no one feel disheartened, if he 
experiences any desire to propagate vines and raise 
grapes, because experienced grape-growers have not 
always met with success. Almost every family in the 
country and in hamlets and villages allow noxious 
weeds to cover the ground, where several hundreds 
of pounds, and in many instances, two or three tons of 
excellent fruit might be produced, every season, with 
the expenditure of only a few hours' labor. The main 
consideration which lies at the foundation of success in 
producing grapes, is a correct understanding of the re- 
quirements of the growing vines. Then, if a cultiva- 
tor is careful to select such varieties as will mature 
their fruit, before cold and frosty weather, his vines 
will rarely fail to yield a bountiful crop, every season. 



478 todd's country homes. 

Almost every failure in the production of grapes, may 
be traced directly to some cause over which the tiller 
of the soil can exercise complete control. 

Geape-vines must be Fed. — The entire system of 
successful grape culture, is involved in the exercise of 
a little common sense. Grape-vines require much 
aluminous matter, in the form of clay; a liberal supply 
of silicious material, in the form of sand ; a moderate 
sprinkling of carbonaceous elements, in the form of 
humus, or leaf-mold ; a bountiful supply of potash, and 
an abundance of nitrogenous elements, and phosphatic 
material. Where these elements of fertility abound, 
there will be but little difficulty in producing bountiful 
crops of fine fruit. On the contrary, where they are 
lacking, grapes will be an uncertain and unsatisfactory 
crop. Grape-vines must be fed, or we cannot reason- 
ably expect a crop of fine fruit. Grapes are composed 
of choice tid-bits, so to speak, which have been gathered 
in exceedingly minute particles by the ten thousand 
little rootlets which occupy almost every inch of the 
soil, round about the growing vine. But if the nitro- 
genous matter, the aluminous, the silicious and the cal- 
careous material be wanting, and if there be a defi- 
ciency of phosphates and carbonates and a meagre 
supply of j)otash — which is one of the most essential 
fertilizers in grape culture — a vine dresser may give 
the most timely training, pruning, pinching, mulching 
or stirring of the surface of the soil, and receive no re- 
ward in fruit for all his labor. In all the localities on 
the slopes of our Northern lakes and rivers, where 
there are extensive vineyards, and in any other States 
where the soil ranges from a loam, in which there is 



PKUNING AND TRAINING. 479 

only a sprinkling of clay to a heavy clay, the chief 
fertilizing matter to be applied for the purpose of se- 
curing a crop of grapes is good bone-dust, the flesh of 
animals, or the offal of slaughter-houses and potash, 
or wood-ashes. In numerous localities in New Jersey, 
large and beautiful vines can be raised, which will not 
produce one single bunch of fruit, simply because the 
vines are starved to death. The soil in those places 
that we have particular reference to, consists of a 
light sandy loam, with scarcely enough aluminous mat- 
ter in it to entitle it to the name of a loam. Grape- 
vines must be fed in such places. There is no use in 
attempting to dodge this fact. Vines cannot produce 
grapes out of nothing. If grape-producing material is 
not available by the roots, the pabulum must be sup- 
plied, or there will certainly be no grapes. The more 
wood-ashes that can be spread around the vines and 
hoed into the soil, the more the fruit and leaves will 
be fortified against the attacks of disease. • 

Pruning and Training. — There is such a thing as 
pruning a vine too much. Indeed, I have met with 
numerous instances, on Long Island, where vines have 
been pruned according to the notions of professional 
grape culturists, for several seasons, without producing 
half a crop of fruit. Then, the vines were neglected, 
for two or three reasons, and the yield was a bountiful 
crop. Common sense teaches us that when a large 
proportion of a vine is removed, if it be well rooted, 
the growth of new wood will not be firm and healthy 
as it should be. All grape culturists agree that the 
first requisite for the production of perfect vines, is 
sound, well-ripened wood rather than that which has 



480 todd's country homes. 

been injured by producing a full crop of grapes. Fruit 
is always produced upon the young growing branches 
that spring from buds formed on the wood of the pre- 
ceding year. This fact furnishes grape culturists with 
a reliable guide for pruning the vine, no matter what 
system is adopted in training. If we cut off a large 
proportion of the vine, the sap in the roots may stag- 
nate, to the injury of both the roots and stem. The 
aim should be, therefore, to prune, and in such a man- 
ner, that the branches will cease to grow before cold 
w^eather. There is nothing gained by having a long 
and bare vine, yielding a few bunches of grapes twenty 
feet from the roots. I have often seen over thirty 
bunches of grapes joroduced, on a young vine, within a 
space of six feet high by two feet wide. I have a 
young lona vine that yielded, last season, when it was 
three years old, over fifty fine bunches, within a space 
eight feet long by four feet high. And more than half 
of the bunches that had set on that vine, were clipped 
off, so that the vine should not be injured by maturing 
too much fruit. And, I may state also, that my vines, 
all of which are very productive, are growing where 
there was nothing but unfertile earth. But we fed t\\e 
roots wdth the garbage from the kitchen, consisting of 
rotten eggs, pieces of bone, fish-scales and heads, the 
offal of dressed poultry, lime and soap-suds. Before the 
middle of September, our grapes had all matured. I 
simply allude to this fact to show that bountiful crops 
have been produced in barren earth by my system of 
management. Fish, dead cats, dead dogs, rats, mice, 
and dead fowls, will make superior pabulum for the 
roots of grape-vines, or fruit trees. 



TRAINING OLD AND YOUNG VINES. 481 

Training Young Vines. — The first step will be to 
induce two canes to grow like a two-tined fork, six feet 
or more long, perpendicularly. Shoots will not grow 
so readily in a horizontal direction. Here we have 07ie 
tangible starting-point. The next spring, secure these 
two canes to a trellis, in a horizontal position, about 
one and one-half feet from the ground. Now, encour- 
age perpendicular canes to grow from these horizontal 
arms to the top of the trellis. On these perpendicular 
canes, the fruit will appear. Make all the canes grow 
uniformly, by pinching a little of the growing end of 
such canes as seem disposed to grow faster than those 
on each side; but do not pinch too much. Now, keep 
the vines within bounds by pinching off the extremi- 
ties, a little at a time. Let the soil be kept clean by 
mulching or with the scuffle-hoe. Do not work the 
soil so deep as to cut off the surface roots. It is a rare 
thing that grape-vines need root pruning. If vines be 
trained thus to a trellis, or fence, one can have them 
and the fruit exactly where he can reach them, and he 
can train every branch to his mind. Then, when it is 
desirable to lay the vines down for winter, the canes 
can be released, and the entire vine laid flat on the 
ground and covered with earth. I know of no system 
of pruning and training superior to this. The next 
season, the vine will be in an excellent condition to 
permit the pruner to commence pruning according to 
the renewal system. 

Management of Old Vines. — Let us suppose, for 
example, that we have an old tangled vine, that has 
produced only a light crop of fruit yearly. What shall 
•be done with it ? The first question will be, has the 

31 



482 todd's country homes. 

vine any well ripened wood, one year old ? If so, ex- 
amine the buds on these young branches, and consider 
each complete bud as a promise of one to three bunches 
of fruit. Now, if we can get a young cane six or eight 
feet long, it may be trained horizontally, as indicated, 
under the preceding heading. Or, if an old vine has 
a number of healthy one-year-old canes each may be 
pruned back to about five or six buds from its base. It 
is seldom a safe plan to leave more than this number 
of buds on each cane, even when the ground is unusu- 
ally rich. In some instances, if the vine is old, very 
much tangled and unproductive, it will be better to 
cut off every thing clean and smooth, just above the 
collar of the stem, at the surface of the ground, and 
cover the wounds with grafting-wax held down tight 
by a piece of stiff cloth, or old leather secured with 
tacks. Several long canes will grow from the stub, 
which can be trained at pleasure. My space is too 
limited to offer many details on this subject. The be- 
ginner must study the vine, and its requirements. If 
branches are too thick, apply the knife. Count the 
bunches of young fruit; and if they appear too numer- 
ous, clip off a portion. Never allow young vines to 
produce a bountiful yield of fruit. 

One of the best ways to treat an old vine is, to insert 
several cions below the collar, at the surface of the 
ground. Then choose two of these for arms, by train- 
ing them, the first season, as directed on page 480. 
Grind the end of a small chisel like the point of a 
spear ; drive it an inch or more into the side of the 
stock, withdraw it, and crowd in the cion before the 
gash closes. 



CHAPTEE XII 

BREEDING AND REARING OF HORSES. 

The DenominatioDS of Horses — Breeding Horses for Agricultural Purposes 

— Stallions and Mares — Management of Mares — Working Breeding 

Mares — Management and Rearing of Colts — Feeding and Watering 

Horses — Overdriving — How to Drive — Bad effects of Overdriving — 

Stables, &c. 

" The toil-worn horse set free, 
Unheeclful of the pasture, roams at large ; 
And, as his stiff unwieldly bulk he rolls. 
His iron-bound hoofs gleam in the morning ray." — Graiiame. 

The Denominations of Horses. — Some of .the 
technicalities employed when speaking of them, are : 
1. A stallion or stud-horse, meaning an entire male, 
which has not been castrated. 2. A gelding, a male 
horse castrated before he has been kept as a stallion. 
3. Stag, a castrated stallion, which has been employed 
for service, during several seasons. 4. Mare signifies 
the female horse. 5. Filly, a young female horse. 
Young mares are often spoken of as fillies, until the}^ 
are three years old. 6. Foal, either a male or female 
colt while very young. In many instances, young 
horses are spoken of as foals, until they have been 
weaned. 7. Colt, has no limited signification, with- 
out some qualifying word or phrase ; as Americans say, 
a sucking colt, a last spring's colt, a yearling colt, a 
two years old colt, or a four years old colt. After 
the age of four years, the word colt is not employed^ 



484 todd's country homes. 

as either a male or female is then considered to be a 
full grown horse. 7. After a mare has produced one 
foal, she is spoken of as a brood mare, or breeding 
mare. 8. When a mare receives the male, the stal- 
lion is said to cover the mare, or to be put to her, or 
the mare was covered by such a stallion. 9. During 
the period of gestation, a mare is said to be in foal, or 
with foal. Either is correct English. 10. The young 
animal, until it is brought forth is a foetus. When the 
foetus is brought forth prematurely, we say the mare 
has slunk her foal. 11. In many instances, people 
say; "Such a horse was sired by Prince." A more 
correct expression would be to say; such a colt was 
got by Prince. John Randolph says : " They might as 
well say, that such a colt was damm'd by such a mare." 
Properly speaking, we say, such a foal was brought 
forth by such a dam; or the dam of such a colt or 
horse, was, or is "Nellie." 12. When a mare manifests 
no displeasure at the near approach of the stallion, 
and does not bite, kick, nor strike, when he touches 
her with his nose, she is said to be in heat, or in season. 
13. When he is moving faster than a walk, and lifts 
both the fore foot and hind foot on one side together, 
a horse is said to rack, or to j^cice, or to amble. 

Choice of Stallions. — Fine animals may be pro- 
duced without ^serving the following rules, but this 
must be regarded as an accidental matter, unless the 
coupling of the same sire and dam will produce an- 
other. The purer the blood of breeding animals the 
more sure they will be to produce their like, and to 
transmit their qualities to offspring. Defective qual- 
ities are transmitted with just as much certainty as 



CHOICE OF STALLIONS. 485 

desirable ones, because the defects owe their origin to 
the same causes that good and desirable qualities do, 
and are just as deeply implanted in the constitution 
and transmissive power as the others are. These facts 
should be constantly borne in mind by the breeders 
of all animals, who would make their business remun- 
erative. The careless breeder too, often so badly pairs 
the animals, that the good points of each are almost 
lost, the defects of both are increased, and the colts 
are inferior to either sire or dam. 

A cross between large, upright shouldered, over- 
grown horses and small mares, generally produces a 
race of long-legged, small-chested, spongy-boned ani- 
mals. It is also a well established fact, that to obtain 
speed, courage, spirit and bottom, with hardness of 
bone, we must have what breeders call a strong dash 
of blood, and we should aim to get as much blood as 
we can into the horse of all-work, consistently with 
the necessary weight. However, in doing this, we 
should avoid the long-legged, narrow-loined, pot-gutted, 
degenerate class of race horses, and endeavor to select 
such as are well formed, with sufficient bone, body and 
muscle, with proper shortness of leg, to enable them to 
bear up under long continued and severe exertion. 
In short, the correct way to choose a stallion is to em- 
ploy the service of one that has proved himself to be 
an excellent animal for getting superior stock. Farm- 
ers as a class, have made a serious mistake in breeding 
from "fast horses " rather than from strong and power- 
ful roadsters and draught animals. Breeders can not 
expect to raise large horses from undersized stallions. 
Every other good point may be developed in the most 



486 TODD S COUIsTllY HOMES. 

desirable manner, but if size be wanting, he should not 
be used for raising horses for heavy work. The body 
of the stallion should be of as symmetrical proportions 
as the mare's. His back should be short, and his chest 
round as a barrel, well ribbed back, filled out in the 
Hank, rather than like the body of a greyhound. His 
head should be small and bony, his neck strong and of 
good length, his breast very broad from one shoulder 
point to the other, the withers high, the legs short and 
strong, having the hocks and knees low, and the legs 
below hard and smooth. Such a horse will not be 
liable to strain himself at a heavy draught. 
HoESEs FOR Agricultural Purposes. — 

" The colt by nature and by genius made 
To turn the glebe, breed to the rural trade." — Drtden's Virgil. 

Farmers and most men in cities who want horses at 
all, need large, heavy horses for agricultural purposes ; 
but their form should be symmetrical. A horse sixteen 
hands high is far preferable to one fourteen hands high. 
Good length is an important consideration in an agri- 
cultural horse. If a horse has good hight and good 
length, and a symmetrical form — with few exceptions 
— he can be made a powerful and efficient animal for 
heavy labor. One kind of labor requires one kind of 
horses, a different kind of labor requires a kind of 
horses diametrically different. We can not ex^Dect to 
find in one horse the excellent qualities of a good agri- 
cultural horse, an excellent roadster, and a fleet car- 
riage horse, nor, on the contrary, can we expect that a 
horse that is noted for his fleetness — either for trotting 
or running — will make a good agricultural horse. 
What is the character of the labor to be performed by 
agricultural horses ? It is plowing, harrowing, hauling 



SELECTING BREEDING MARES. 487 

heavy drafts, etc., which reqmres a strong and steady 
movement. For the performance of such operations a 
.kind of horses is needed which will j^ress into the har- 
ness, just as a strong man lifts a heavy weight with his 
shoulders. Many farmers seem to prefer horses of the 
very largest, and even overgrown size, but such horses 
are not the most useful and convenient, and seldom as 
durable. They who raise horses instead of trying to 
breed trotters, should endeavor to raise good serviceable 
horses, fitted for any and all work, no matter how heavy 
or how light, the plow, the coach or truck. A heavy 
horse, for plowing, and especially for drawing heavy 
loads over rough ways, is infinitely the best. Why ? 
Because a heavy horse performs a large proportion of 
his labor, not by muscular force, but by the momentum 
of his body. When a horse weighing eight hundred 
pounds is put to heavy labor, such as hauling heavy 
loads over rough and uneven ways, a horse that will 
weigh one thousand six hundred pounds will show but 
little fatigue, when the other animal is well nigh ex- 
hausted. Heavy oxen and heavy muscular horses are 
the best kind of animals for agricultural purposes ; but 
the best carriage-horses are found among those of a 
medium size. 

Selecting Breeding Mares. — The first and most 
important step towards improvement, is to select the 
right kind of mare, full of health and vigor. Youatt 
says it is more difiicult to select a good mare to breed 
from, than a horse, because she should possess some- 
what opposite qualities. In order to improve the form 
of the offspring, she should be proportionally larger 
than the stallion ; her carcass should be rather long, to 



488 todd's country homes. 

give room for the expansion of the foetus — yet with 
compactness of form, and shortness of leg, chest roomy, 
shoulders oblique and deep, withers well raised, girth- 
large, loins broad, and quarters wide, shanks flat and 
clean. The muscles and their appendages (the tendons) 
cannot be too prominently developed in the brood mare; 
however desirable, or even perfect may have been the 
conformation of the sire, every good point may be 
neutralized or lost by the defective structure of the 
mare. The essential points should be good in both 
parents, or any minor defect in either must be got rid 
of by excellence in that particular point in the other. 
Both animals ought to be perfect as near as we can 
judge and get them, or else our breed of horses will 
never be generally good, but a spurious race will con- 
tinue, and degeneration progress. If breeders do not 
pay more attention to the hereditary transmission of 
disease, if they do not exercise proper judgment with 
regard to form, constitution, and freedom from heredi- 
tary taint, how can they expect a sound or healthy off- 
spring from either sire or dam ? 

Never attempt to breed valuable colts from old, worn- 
out mares, which have been injured and their vitality 
weakened by injudicious treatment, or by too severe 
labor. The common practice for many years past, has 
been to keep the old mare for breeding when she is 
unfitted for service on the road or on the farm. This 
is where the evil commences. She is a favorite animal, 
was handsome, spirited and with a power of endurance 
almost beyond belief - But now she is seventeen years 
of age, has a spavin, a slight touch of the heaves, and 
one or two other trifling matters which are a little in- 



TO MAKE BAKKEN MAKES BREED. 489 

convenient for a working animal, but she will make a 
good breeder and about pay for keeping besides. 
Blemishes, spavins, and other imperfections are all im- 
pressed upon the living organism, and can no more be 
separated from it than breath can from the body, so 
long as life is still preserved. Let beginners beware of 
breeding from either male or female, having blemishes. 
To MAKE Bareen Mares Breed. — 

" Their bodies harass ; sink them when they run : 
And fry their melting marrow in the sun. 
With scanty measure, then supply their food ; 
And when athirst, restrain them from the flood." 

Deyden's Virgil. 

When mares are kept too fat to breed, it will be a 
difficult task to manage them so as to produce a foal. 
A layer of fat over the Fallopian tubes, is almost al- 
ways the true cause of barrenness in mares. The rem- 
edy usually is an easy and simple one. Provide an 
open shed to shield the beast from pelting storms, in 
cold weather, and feed her but little hay and no grain. 
Let her have access to straw and corn-stalks, at all times. 
Keep a tub of salt near her shed. Occasionally, feed 
her a few quarts of bran, and a turnip or two. Allow 
her to become very much reduced in flesh, so as to use 
up those thick folds of fat alluded to. Then, in the 
spring commence improving her condition slowly, as 
she is worked moderately. The object should be to 
make muscle rather than fat. Feed oat-meal and straw, 
turnips, or carrots, as these kinds of feed will produce 
more muscle than fat. Keep her thin in flesh. Be 
careful not to over-work, nor over-feed. About the 
first of June, she will be healthful, improving in condi- 
tion, so that one covering will scarcely fail to be effec- 
tual. Should suijh management fail, it will be safe to 



490 todd's country homes. 

assume that the mare can not be mduced to breed. In 
some instances, after a mare has shmk, she will never 
again breed. 

Prepaeations for Foaling. — If a mare when about 
to foal, can get near a pond of water, a slough hole, 
ditch, or open well, the young colt will be sure to get 
into such a place, and be lost. For this reason, a brood 
mare, after she has passed the eighth month of gestation, 
should have the benefit of a small and smooth field, 
where there are no hollows, into which she might roll 
and get cast. I once owned a mare that would often 
get cast, in a slight depression ; and in two instances, 
she had remained so long with her feet upwards, that 
she could not rise, when relieved from her position. 
As the period of parturition draws nigh, they must be 
watched, many times during the day and night. My 
own practice always was, to put a brood mare loose in 
a spacious box-stall, where she could lie down at pleas- 
ure. During the growing season, such animals were 
kept in a small, smooth lot. And, many times during 
a day, and the last thing at night, before retiring, and 
the very first duty in the morning was, to go and see 
if the brood mares were all right. And I never lost a 
mare, foal, cow or calf at the season of parturition. 

Working Brood Mares. — Moderate labor never 
injured a brood mare, while a want of it, and harsh 
treatment, hard driving, feeding poorly, and violent 
abuse by ill-natured and bawling drivers, will tend more 
effectually to depopulate our country of elegant and 
valuable horses, than all other causes that may be enu- 
merated, which exert any jDcrceptible influence on the 
success or failure in the management of brood mares 



WORKING BROOD MARES. 491 

when rearing colts. But, give the lines to some ill- 
natured, rough renegade, who is more destitute of the 
tender feelings of huYnanity than the animals he drives, 
who will kick, jerk with the reins, and worry his team 
the livelong day, and our country will shortly be as des- 
titute of colts as the forests within the bounds of civil- 
ization are of ferocious beasts of prey. It is a very 
mistaken notion cherished by some persons, that brood 
mares must not be worked during the last month of 
their gestation. Indeed, moderate labor is of such 
transcendent importance in rearing colts, that the 
maxim to " work the dam and save the foal, or work 
her not and lose the whole" — both dam and foal — has 
become almost a truism with the largest proportion of 
our most successful horsemen, who rear one or more 
colts every year. I have in mind a large number of 
instances in which farmers owned valuable mares that 
were kept expressly for rearing fine colts, all of which 
resulted in grievous failures, simply because the mares 
were kept too tenderly, fed too highly, and worked 
little or none at all during the latter months of the 
usual period of equine gestation. My thoughts, revert- 
ing to the days of boyhood, bring to mind in a most vivid 
and instructive manner, the scores of beautiful colts 
that were reared by those farmers who had no other 
team than brood mares, which were worked on the 
farm and driven on the highway, almost every day in 
the year, none of which ever failed to bring forth their 
foals most successfully, and to rear valuable colts, while, 
on the contrary, I can remember of seeing a greater 
number of dead foals than living colts, and many times 
the grievous loss of both dam and foal was sustained, 



492 todd's country homes. 

simply because the mare did not receive the benefit of 
moderate labor. I can not recall a single instance in 
which a foal was lost when the mare had been required 
to labor moderately, almost every day, even up to the 
time of foaling. 

My father once owned a valuable and beautiful mare, 
which he kept for the especial purpose of raising colts. 
She was always fed well, and managed very tenderly, 
by no one but his own careful hand. When there was 
a great deal of labor to be done on the farm, it must 
go undone, until some other horses could do it, as Nel- 
lie must not be permitted to work. The result was, 
that in most instances, Nellie would drop her foal pre- 
maturely, or it would be lifeless when brought forth, 
or would cease to breathe in a few hours after it began 
to live. Discouraged at such failures, he proposed to 
sell Nellie, when I purchased her, and she constituted 
one of my only span of mares for performing the larg- 
est proportion of farm-labor, which were kept, at the 
same time, as brood mares. Few were the days that 
this mare, and her mate, both with foal, did not perform 
some kind of moderate, and sometimes severe, labor, 
and the number of days when they remained idle, even 
during the last month of the period of gestation, were 
less than the Sundays of those months. Those mares, 
with foal, were worked on an endless-chain horse-power, 
hauled rails, stone, wood, plowed, and harrowed, up to 
the last day of gestation, and, notwithstanding all this 
apparently rough usage, neither of them ever slunk, 
nor failed to raise good colts. Moderate labor, in this 
instance, appeared to be an essential requisite to suc- 
cess. Had I forty brood mares, from which it were de- 



MANAGEMENT OF FOALS. 493 

sirable to raise good colts every season, each one should 
be required to perform some kind of work every day 
that would furnish them with suitable exercise. It 
will be attended with detrimental consequences, to de- 
prive brood mares of the eminent advantages that will 
accrue from performance of moderate labor every day. 
Management of Foals. — The first thing to be done 
for a young foal to enable it to stand and use its limbs 
is to hold it up on its feet for a few minutes. If it be 
able to maintain its position, everything will be all 
correct and successful in a few hours. But, if it has 
not sufficient strength to stand, let it be held on its 
•feet, while all the limbs are bathed in warm water with 
a woolen cloth. At the same time, let the young ani- 
mal be held where it can reach the teats of the dam, 
as the very next thing, after rising, will be to obtain 
some nourishment. After bathing every limb, for a 
few minutes, with a large piece of dry cloth in each 
hand, rub the legs as fast as practicable, passing the 
cloth the entire length of the limbs. Continue the 
gentle friction with warm and dry cloths until the hair 
is dry. Half an hour spent in the foregoing manner 
immediately after a foal is dropped will usually place 
it beyond the necessity of further manual assistance. 
The warm water will impart necessary heat to the 
limbs, and the gentle friction will promote a healthful 
circulation of the vital fluid. Unlike a submissive calf 
or tender lamb, which will lie down quietly when un- 
able to rise, a foal will flounder and flounce, will rise 
partially and tumble over, and beat its head against 
the wall or ground, until the little thing is half dead, 
on account of bruises and violent struggles to maintain 



494 todd's countey homes. 

its position on its feet. This is a most critical period 
for a young foal, and if manual aid is not administered 
in time, the animal will survive only a short time. 
There is but little vitality about many young colts. 
For this reason, some person should watch every brood 
mare with incessant care, long before the usual period 
of gestation has elapsed. 

My own practice with foals has been when the mares 
were working, to secure them in a yard, allowing them 
to suckle at morning, noon and night. This practice 
will be found flxr more satisfactory than to allow them 
to be racing all day after the team. A colt can be 
weaned, when managed in this manner, with far less 
difficulty, than if it had never been separated from the 
dam. Let a foal be weaned gradually, by allowing it 
to suckle twice a day, then once a day, for a few days, 
and then once in two days, and lastly once a week. 
Before a foal is weaned, it should have access to clean 
water, grass, and oat-meal, and should become so ac- 
customed to feeding, that it will never decline in flesh 
after the supply of milk has been cut off. The aim 
should be, not to render a colt fat, but to develop 
muscle and a symmetrical carcass. Oats, or oat-meal, 
rye-meal, cut straw, hay and roots, or apples are the 
best feed, except grass, that a foal can receive. After 
the foal is weaned, he should have a companion. No 
animal appears so miserable as the isolated foal. The 
best companion is another foal. If a person has but 
one colt to wean, it is always advisable to procure 
another as any animal will thrive more satisfactorily, 
when he has a congenial companion. Starving will 
inevitably ruin the best colt, and over-feeding will 



THE WAY TO BREAK COLTS. 495 

cramp the future development of the horse, and dimin- 
ish the vital energy of the system. There is a medium 
in food as in exercise and work. 
The way to break Colts. — 

" Before his tender joints with nerves are knit, 
Untried in arms and trembling at the bit, 
This, from liis weaning, let him well be taught ; 
And then, betimes, in a soft snaffle wrought." — Drtden's Virgil. 

The education of a colt — the training or breaking — 
should commence before the young animal is a week 
old. My practice always has been to make a soft hal- 
ter for the colt, put it on his head, lead the mare away 
from her colt, a few rods, and then let it learn the re- 
straints of a halter by allowing it to travel towards the 
dam. After a few lessons, during which the colt is 
taught to stand quietly when tied to a post, or is led 
towards its dam, it may be tied to the side of the mare, 
and taught to keep pace with her. By this manage- 
ment, a colt may be taught to lead without any dif- 
ficulty. It will be almost impossible to teach a colt to 
lead by pulling it along. My colts, when they were 
allowed to go with their respective dams, were always 
tied to their sides.. In a few days, they learned the 
use of the halter, so that any one could lead them at 
pleasure. The training of a horse should always pro- 
ceed upon the principle " that he is a rational animal. 
The horse is -naturally timid, and his fears, if aroused, 
not only make him less manageable, but impair his 
judgment, making him see harm in almost everything. 
If a man is never spiteful and angry with the colt, the 
horse will rarely or never show any real viciousness. 
No person who is the least afraid of him^ or who would 
jump or start when an attempt to kick, bite or strike 



496 todd's country homes. 

might be made, should be- allowed to have any inter- 
course with a horse in training. Accustomed to the 
harness, standing and being exercised in it during one 
or two lessons each day for two days or a week, accord- 
ing to the disposition of the animal, he may be put 
into the thills, but neither the traces nor holdbacks 
should be hitched. 

My own practice with colts was to teach them to be 
driven by the side of another horse, before the traces 
were hitched, allowing the old horse to draw the car- 
riage. The whiffletree of the old horse should always 
be chained back, so that when the word "go" is given, 
the colt will be obliged to move along. No calculations 
should be made for the colt to draw one pound. As 
soon as he has learned to stop and start, at the word, 
he will have learned to draw, more or less. But, ex- 
treme care should be exercised when starting a load, 
that the colt does not fly back. Never whip a colt. 
They don't understand what a whip means. You may 
whip out one devil, but at the same time, seven more 
will be whipped in. There will be no difficulty in 
teaching a colt almost any lesson, that a horse is capa- 
ble of learning, provided, patience, kind treatment and 
gentleness are always manifested. So long as a person 
will possess himself in patience, while teaching a colt 
what may be required of him, the animal will learn 
almost as soon as a human being. Indeed, it often 
seems a hopeless task to get some stupid bipeds to un- 
derstand what we desire them to do. A long time is 
required to teach a colt the meaning of your words 
and actions. 

Manner of Bitting Colts. — The usual practice 



MANNER OF BITTING COLTS. 497 

of. bitting colts ought to be discarded by every lover 
of a horse as a veritable relic of barbarism, infinitely 
more befitting the dark ages than this glorious nine- 
teenth century, so replete with intelligence and the 
exercise of common sense. Let men put a gag-bit in 
their own mouth, and have their heads drawn back 
and their chins down as far as practicable, for one or 
two hours; and if they are not cured most effectually, 
of their notions about bitting colts, I will bear the re- 
proach of a false prophet. If colts do not carry their 
heads sufficiently high, the check-rein shoruld be short- 
ened gradually, when the colt is driven, and his head 
should be reined up for only a short period at once. 
Some colts will always carry their heads high, while 
others carry them low, and the form of the neck is 
such that they can never be made to carry a high 
head. It is as unphilosoj^hical, also, as it is abusive, 
as it does no good, but endangers the animal's life. 
For in this condition colts become enraged, and rave 
and paw, then run about and jam themselves against 
the fence or trees to rid themselves of this painful con- 
dition, all to no purpose ; and, as their madness in- 
creases, in their ravings to rid themselves of this most 
unmerciful situation, they throw themselves upon the 
ground in various ways by rearing and plunging, till 
at last they rear and fall straight over backward; and 
if the ground is hard, or a stone happens to be where 
they fall, so that the back of the head hits it, the neck 
is broken, and that is the result of this wicked practice 
of bitting colts. Within the last twenty years I have 
l;cnown of three very fine colts being killed by bitting 
them in the old way, by drawing their heads back 

32 



498 todd's countky homes. 

within a few inches of their breasts, in a most inhuman 
and unmerciful manner. The illustrious "Rarey" said 
that bitting colts is one of the worst punishments we 
can inflict on a colt ; and it is very injurious to a young 
horse that has been running in pasture with his head 
down. A horse should be well accustomed to the bit 
before the bitting harness is put on, and when he is 
first bitted, he should only be reined up to where he 
holds his head, let it be high or low. He will then 
learn that he cannot lower his head, and that raising 
it a little, will loosen the bit in his mouth. This will 
give him the idea of raising his head to loosen his bit, 
and then, you can draw the bit a little tighter every 
time you put the bridle on, and he will raise his head 
to loosen it. By this means you can gradually get his 
head and neck in the position you wish him to carry 
it; and give him a graceful carriage without hurting 
him, making him angry, or causing his mouth to be 
sore. 

Riding Colts. — The world is full of stupid notions 
about riding colts, and many valuable young horses are 
nearly ruined by the stupid management of more stupid 
men. My own practice was, when on the farm, to put 
a small boy on a young colt, and teach the colt to 
stand, with his rider on his back. The next lesson 
would be to lead the colt, holding him firmly by the 
head with one hand, and the boy with the other. 

My father had a three years old mare, that would 
throw any rider to the ground, almost before he knew 
it. An expert that was never thrown by a horse, came 
twenty miles to show his power and skill in riding un- 
trained colts. He was to receive so much money, if he 



FEEDING HOESES. 499 

would ride that mare from the house to the barn. He 
carressed and fussed around her for a long time, until 
she seemed as docile as an old horse. He hung on her, 
with one arm, and laid his weight on her. After a 
long time, he ventured to stride her. As soon as he 
had straightened up, and bid her go, with two hops and 
a plunge she flopped her rider on the hard ground, and 
ran to the barn without him. The terrible fall jarred 
all the horse-conceit out of him, and he returned home 
with drooping plumes. 

One day, w^hen all hands were away, my little brother 
and I stuffed a man's clothes with straw, tied the straw 
rider to her back, and let her loose. But, such plunges, 
rearing, kicking, boltings and other violent manoeuvres 
to throw her rider are seldom witnessed. But, her 
rider stuck in his place, until she was entirely subdued, 
so that I had no difficulty in riding her when and where 
I pleased. 

Feeding Horses. — 

" When Autumn 
From her copious bosom pours 
A golden stream of richest stores, 

Forget me not." — Edwards. 

No one can expect to have good horses, unless they 
are well fed. It is not necessary, in order to feed well, 
that a horse should always have the rack filled with 
feed. Indeed, I can not approve of the practice of 
putting more hay in the rack than a horse will eat at 
one meal, and eat it up clean. Many farmers seem to 
think, that unless the rack is half full, in the morning, 
a horse has not had enough to eat, during the night. 
But if hay is good, no more should be put into the 
rack than will be eaten up clean. Three meals in 



500 todd's country homes. 

twenty-four hours, are better than two, because, when 
threa meals are given, the stomach is not overloaded, 
and digestion will be more perfect, and the stomach 
will have sufficient time to rest. If only two are given, 
horses become too hungry between meals, and will eat 
more than will digest readily. 

Many farmers act upon the principle, that, if a horse 
does not work, he does not need much to eat, and when 
he has a hard day's work to perform, he must receive 
feed in proportion. It is true that horses do not need 
as much when idle, as when they work. Indeed, they 
will not eat as much. But, nothing is more detrimen- 
tal to a horse than to feed him an abundance of grain 
when he has not been accustomed to eat it, merely be- 
cause he 1ms performed a little extra labor. The labor 
of farm horses is so variable, and often so uncertain, 
that the tyro must exercise no little judgment in feed- 
ing, lest he do incalculable injury to his horses. When 
horses are fed on grass, alone, it is often hazardous, in 
the extreme, to give them a few quarts of grain, and 
especially, if they are hungry and tired. 

In many instances plowing in the spring is inter- 
rupted by heavy rains, for eight or ten days after 
horses have been fed high, and worked hard, for a 
week or more. Under such circumstances, it would 
be folly, and the worst kind of policy, to continue the 
accustomed high feeding, while horses are not at work, 
as well as to feed them but little while they remain 
idle. Under such circumstances horses must be fed 
toell, but not as bountifully as when they work every day. 
Allowing horses to eat from a nose bag, or basket, at 
aui/ time and every time, when they may have an op- 



FEEDING HOESES. 501 

portunity, is an unwise practice, and injurious to their 
health. Horses are often taken from the pasture -when 
they have done nothing, nor have eaten any grain, for 
several weeks perhaps, and after being driven on. the 
road a part, or all of the day, are ferd with dry oats or 
barley ; the consequence too often is, violent attacks of 
colic and scours. A few quarts of oats at such times 
will not affect some horses; but others again cannat 
endure without injury, so sudden a change in their feed. 
It w^ould be far better to suffer them to have nothing 
but grass, or hay, if no meal and cut straw can be had 
than to feed them a full mess of dry grain. It is fre- 
quently the case, that farmers, when they feed cut 
straw and meal, think it useless to feed any hay. But 
it is always better to feed a little hay, if not more than 
a pound or so, every meal. When horses are put to 
severe labor, from day to day, if fed nothing but grass, 
or hay, their strength and flesh will soon fail. During 
the winter, horses should be fed enough to keep them 
in a good, healthy condition, and when spring arrivies, 
and work increases, the feed must be increased. No 
one should ever allow feelings of penuriousness to in- 
duce him to withhold, from his faithful horses, their 
due allowance, because they have done nothing to-day, 
and will have nothing to do to-morrow. Another 
thing of no trifling importance is, to be on hand in per- 
son, when the horses are fed, and see that every ani- 
mal receives his allowance. I have known many 
horses, when at hard work, to have their feed prepared 
before their owners came into the stable, and many 
times it would be nothing but wheat bran and cut 
straw, instead of meal. I have often seen horses fed 



602 todd's country homes. 

with coarse and unpalatable tailings of dirty grain, 
consisting of thistle heads, daisy, and Akley's clover 
heads, and such like, or with the screenings, full of 
pigeon-weed seed, mustard, and a variety of such des- 
picable trash, which any one ought to disdain to throw 
to the fowls. Whenever I call at a public house I 
never will trust the mendacious hostler to feed my 
team unless I am present, to see if the manger is clear, 
and that they have the feed which is called for, and 
that the hay, which other horses have breathed on, 
and rejected, is taken from the rack, and a little fresh 
hay given them. 

Peeparing Feed for Horses. — Every kind of food 
that is taken into the stomach of a horse, before it can 
nourish, must be reduced to a liquid state. The teeth 
of a horse are designed for crushing and comminuting, 
partially, their food ; and the gastric juice is designed 
to complete the liquefaction of coarse substances, after 
they have entered the stomach. But, if the teeth have 
failed to perform their office, digestion will often be 
imperfect. These facts teach us the importance of aid- 
ing the teeth, in the comminution of all coarse and 
hard substances, for the more complete action of the 
gastric juice. After all is done that can be, by me- 
chanical action, to reduce food to a liquid state, the 
juice of the stomach will perform its office in the most 
complete manner. The finer the food is reduced, the 
more surface will be presented for the gastric juice to 
act upon ; and the greater the surface, the more com- 
plete will be digestion. Grain, and seeds of all kinds, 
fruit and vegetables are furnished with a tough skin, 
which if not broken before it enters the stomach, will 



PREPARING FEED FOR HORSES. 503 

pass the horse undigested, affording no more nourish- 
ment than so many gravel-stones. This is proved by 
the fact, that kernels of grain, and seed of fruit will 
readily vegetate after passing through the stomach of 
a horse, when the external skin had not been broken. 
It is therefore very unwise poUcy to feed horses whole 
grain, of any kind, except it is unthrashed oats, cut up 
with the straw. But few horses will masticate whole 
grain, as thoroughly as it should be, before entering 
the stomach. Barley should never be fed whole. It 
is sometimes well enough to feed corn in the ear, if it 
is not very dry and hard, provided the horses have 
good teeth, and little labor to perform. But, it is al- 
ways much better, and more economical, to grind into 
meal, every kind of grain and seed, before it is given 
them. It will always be found far more economical to 
mingle several kinds of grain, grind it fine, and mingle 
a few quarts with about one peck of good cut straw 
and hay. Horses should also, receive a few quarts of 
roots, or apples, daily, when they do not get a supply 
of green food. Equal quantities of oats, rye and peas, 
ground fine, will make superior feed. From three 
to four quarts of such meal will be sufficient for one 
feeding. Such feed will give a horse muscle, rather 
than fat. When large horses are worked hard, each 
one may be fed six to eight quarts, mingled with wet, 
cut fodder. 

Those who desire to render fully effective the motive 
power of the horse, must pay attention to the mechan- 
ical state as well as to the quality and quantity of his 
food. The force expended by the horse in comminut- 
ino" his food — when it is composed of hay, straw and 



504 todd's countey homes. 

oats — may be set down as at least equal to the" power 
he expends in one hour and a half of work, such, for 
example, as plowing. The preparation of his food, by 
means of steam or water power, or even by animal 
motive powder, would economize, by at least one-half, 
the labor expended in its mastication ; this would be 
equivalent to half a day's work in every week — a clear 
g-ain to the animal's owner. When a horse is fed on 
whole oats and uncut hay, he expends a large propor- 
tion of his energies in the process of mastication. Af- 
ter a hard day's work, he has before him the task of 
reducing to pulp fifteen or twenty pounds weight of 
hard food, and the operation is carried on during the 
hours which ought to be devoted to repose. Not un- 
frequently is the animal so tired that he is unable to 
properly chew his food. He, therefore, bolts the oats, 
a large proportion of which passes unchanged through 
his body. A horse will be able to reduce a peck of 
oats and a feeding of hay to a fine condition, by the 
force of his muscles, and machinery, much sooner than 
with his teeth. 

Rejuvenating Old Horses. — 

♦ " I'm clumsy, stupid, crooked, slow ; 

Yet, the poorest horse is a horse, you know. 
As well as the glossiest nags that go." 

The Song of the Horse. 

I have seen many excellent horses reduced almost 
to skeletons, by hard driving and unmerciful treatment. 
Such animals require only good feeding and kind treat- 
ment to restore their impaired appearance and energies. 
But, wdien a horse has been " stove up" badly, is lame, 
stiffened, has poor teeth, and is on the decline of life, 
is hide-bound, having been kept on dry grain and hay, 



REJUVENATING OLD HORSES. 505 

until his ills have become chronic, it will be difficult to 
fatten him. Still, he may be restored to a good con- 
dition by adopting a judicious course of feeding. In 
the first place, provide a spacious box-stall, in which he 
can turn around without doubling his neck and body 
together. If he can have the advantage of a yard 
during the day, all the better. He may be required to 
labor every day, if he be handled carefully. Gentle 
driving and the right kind of feeding will be one of 
the best means employed to develop muscle, and put 
on the flesh. Every day the horse should have, at 
least, four quarts of carrots or turnips, or roots of some 
kind, in addition to three liberal feedings of cut-feed 
and meal. Meal composed of one part oats, one of 
rye or wheat, and a third part of Indian corn, will 
make excellent feed for such a purpose. A quart of 
oil-meal, mingled with the grain, will be an improve- 
ment in the feed. Compelling a horse to eat too much 
straw with the meal will be very detrimental. The bet- 
ter way will be to employ only a few quarts of cut straw 
with the meal. Then, if the stomach is not sufficiently 
distended, let the animal have access to a few pounds 
of good hay. Feed him only as much as he will eat 
up clean in about one hour. If the teeth are poor, 
such animals should never be fed whole grain, as they 
will not crush half the kernels. But give them soft 
cut feed. Never permit a^ horse to have access to hay, 
at all times. Feed only what will suffice for one meal. 
A horse will often eat hay for hours, and still be poor. 
In order to have a horse improve, he must not be over- 
fed, and he should eat his allowance with avidity, and 
lick his manger. 



506 todd's country homes. 

"Wateeing Horses. — 

" You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink." 

If horses could only talk, how often would they, like 
the dumb ass of Balaam, the prophet, sharply rebuke 
the laziness, the ignorance, and the consummate nasti- 
ness of those persons whose duty it is to give dumb 
brutes clean water to drink ! Horses often suffer, ex- 
tremely, from drinking too much, as well as from not 
drinking enough. Sometimes, they are led to water 
with the harness and bridle on, which often are a great 
hindrance to their drinking. Many horses cannot drink 
freely, with bits in the mouth. And if they are obliged 
to drink, with their mouth as low as their feet, the 
collar often chokes them. Horses are led frequently to 
a filthy pond, or to a foul trough, where ducks and 
geese wash and play, and children dabble, and where 
dirty hands, or anything else has been washed; or, 
water is offered to them from a slop-pail. Many peo- 
ple seem to think, that horses can drink from a swill- 
pail as well as swine. But, their sense of taste, and 
smell, are so acute, that unless horses have been accus- 
tomed to drink anywhere, they will not drink from 
vessels that do not smell sweet and clean. No good 
teamster will offer water to his horses, in a vessel, from 
which he himself would hesitate to drink. A pail or 
tub, from which horses are accustomed to drink, should 
be used for no other purpose, and they, who wash hands 
and anything, in the watering trough, should be sharply 
reprehended for such a filthy practice. My father 
trained his employes — and his sons adhere to his ad- 
vice — to permit nothing to be washed where horses 
drink, any sooner than in the water-pail of the kitchen. 



HOW TO DRIVE HORSES. 507 

The True way to Drive Horses. — The way to 
drive horses wrongly, is perfectly understood, and thor- 
oughly practiced. Most horses are driven as children 
are brought up — in a rough, overbearing and iftikind 
manner. If a horse is told to gee, and he has never 
been taught how to gee, he is jerked, or whipped. 
Therefore, he gees, and keeps on geeing, until he has 
geed too far. Then, he is thrashed, because he geed 
when he was told to. I need not write out the re- 
mainder. Horses were made for our servants, and most 
faithful servants they would be, if they were taught, 
and trained to understand what is required of them. 
Horses will perform all they know, if man will only let 
them. All they need is a slight hint to help their silly, 
willing brains, and they will dash with ardor at their 
business of galloping a mile a minute, or twenty miles 
an hour, or of leaping a gulley, or pulling tonnage. 
They put so much reckless, break-neck frenzy in their 
attempts to please and obey the royal personage on 
their back, that he needs to be brave indeed to go fear- 
lessly with them. The driver wills whither; the horse, 
at the will of his better half, does his best to go thither. 
If he fails, the fault is in the driver. If a horse runs 
away, or balks, or kicks, the person who trained the 
beast wrongly, is alone culpable for any damage, or 
disaster. 

The language employed and the handling of the 
lines should always have a certain signification. When 
the word wlioa is pronounced, horses must be taught, 
for a long time, to understand the sound as an order 
for them to stop. When a team is moving along, the 
driver should not hang on the lines. The reins should 



608 todd's countky homes. 

always lie loose. Horses should be taught to travel 
with loose reins. Then, if they deviate from the de- 
sired path, let a line be pulled gently. When horses 
are plowing, or harrowing, driven by stupid drivers, 
who scarcely know as much as the animals they are 
managing, the lazy, and heedless stupidities will hang 
on the lines, and unconsciously and stupidly keep the 
heads of the horses swaying to the right and left. 
Such stupid driving will use up more energies by worry- 
ing, than by all the labor performed. Horses will never 
fatten when they are worried, fretted and cat-hauled in 
such a stupid manner. 

At the State Fair, a gentleman drove a spirited horse 
before his wagon, through the city, among the crowds 
of people and vehicles, directing his well trained steed 
with only the gentle motions of his whip, without even 
a bridle on his head, or a line to guide him. I have 
often seen one man driving five, and sometimes seven, 
large, spirited horses, with one before the other, with- 
out lines; and I have ridden several times on a vehicle, 
drawn by seven large and fine horses, without lines, as 
they were driven across the city of Philadelphia, on 
various streets. The horses were trained. They were 
governed by " the higher law of love." 

The Abuse of the Check-kein. — The check-rein 
is often useful. But, as its use is so frequently abused, 
that part of the harness becomes a curse to horses. It 
is barbarous to draw up the head of a horse, to a pain- 
ful position, especially when at work. A horse needs 
the free use of his head and neck, to aid in keeping 
his balance, just as much as we need the free use of 
our arms, when running or walking. I have often 



THE ABUSE OF THE CHECK-REIN. 509 

seen teamsters, when their horses were to move a heavy 
draft, let down their check-reins, so that the team 
could throw themselves, more easily, into their harness. 
Whenever a horse trips or stumbles, nature prompts 
him to try to save himself, and he instantly extends 
his head and neck for that purpose, as a man would his 
arms. This natural effort increases the animal's dang-er, 
if his head be at all confined by the check-rein, be- 
cause, the tug which he gives with his mouth is com- 
municated to the harness on his back, to which the 
rein is hooked, and the effect is the same as if a man 
were to lay hold of the collar of his coat with both 
his hands, to save himself The more he is crippled, 
the more he needs his head. The check-rein may be 
of some use in " breaking a colt," and may, perhaps, 
help to "get up his head," until he has been "taught 
his paces," but afterwards, unless the animal is un- 
tractable, it can answer no end, except souring his 
temper, making him jib, fretting the corners of his 
mouth, wasting his strength, hurting his wind, injuring 
his sight, lessening his speed, abridging his services, 
shortening his days, throwing him down, and breaking 
his knees. All these, it is fearlessly asserted, often 
proceed from the use of this cruel appendage. 

The dorsal muscles or sinews of the back, in all 
quadrupeds, run longitudinally or horizontally from the 
head to the tail, and those extremities are main work- 
ing power, the use of which may be seen when a horse 
is walking with his head free. What the arms are to 
a walker or laborer, the head and tail are to the ani- 
mal. Tie a man's arms to his side, and even a gentle 
push or trip will throw him down. This is the effect 



510 todd's countey homes. 

produced by the check-rein. The horse's head being 
fixed, he is unable to use it as nature intended; there- 
fore, if he trips or slides, his head is of no use. When 
horses stumble they often break their check-rein, and 
thus getting the head free are enabled to save them- 
selves. We all know that, when a horse is down, the 
first thing done is to "give him his head," that he 
may get up. The effect of restraining a horse by the 
check-rein, is to prevent him from getting up to the 
collar. If the bit is in the least degree affected by the 
check-rein — in other words, if it is not entirely loose 
in the mouth — the horse is checked, and besides being 
kept from the free exercise of his strength, he is pre- 
vented from leaning the weight of his body upon the 
collar. 

Fatal Effects of Ovekdkiving. — We may talk 
and write about this thing, or that, being injurious to 
a horse, or as the procuring cause of certain ills and 
diseases to which that noble animal is subject; but 
when we have traced the deplorable effects back to 
their primary cause, in more than ninety-nine instances 
in one hundred, we behold, as plain as the noonday 
sun, that such an ill, or disease, or disability, was the 
natural and certain result of overdriving. Founder 
may be traced directly to overdriving. There is not 
a foundered horse in the country, whether the founder 
produced by grain or water, that was not driven be- 
yond a reasonable speed, and fed or watered im- 
properly, while too warm. Inflammation of the lungs, 
heaves, broken wind, and a long catalogue of diseases 
which have brought tens of thousands of beautiful 
and valuable horses to an untimely end, were caused 



FATAL EFFECTS OF OVEEDKIVING. 511 

by overdriving. Could the ghosts of departed horses 
that have been hurried out of life, be permitted to 
speak, like Balaam's ass, (Numbers, xxii. 30,) they 
would shake their dry bones at us, and declare that 
overdriving, and improper treatment afterward, were 
the procuring causes of the disease which ended their 
days, when they might have been well and strong for 
many years, had they received proper treatment and 
care. The truth is, that horses are composed of flesh 
and blood; and, although their powers of endurance 
are very great, the fatal effects of overdriving will, 
sooner or later, appear in such an unmistakable mani- 
festation that we need no skillful veterinarian to tell us 
why an animal that we almost love should lie down 
and die in an unexpected moment. 

Are we left in doubt as to the real cause of the pre- 
mature death of that fast trotter, " George M. Patchin," 
which died very unexpectedly, when in apparent good 
health ? There was a mystery about an illness so brief 
and a death so sudden, until a post-mortem examina- 
tion disclosed the astounding fact that one lung was 
entirely consumed, and the other nearly half gone. 
This was the certain result of overdriving at races. 
Young men, who like to ride as rapidly as the steam- 
cars whirl along, spare your horses ! When the flanks 
play like the sides of a greyhound when the chase is 
over; when the pulse beats so that you can hear it 
thump like the rapid ticking of a clock, and the nos- 
trils dilate and contract like those of an animal in the 
last stages of hydrophobia, stop at once, blanket your 
horse, shield him from a current of cold air, give him 
no water or grain, neither bathe his limbs nor breast 



512 todd's countet homes. 

with cold water, until his system has assumed its natu- 
ral condition. Then resolve never to overdrive him 
again. If horses were driven with proper carefulness, 
they would perform all the service that they now ren- 
der, and yet be as healthy and almost as serviceable 
for twenty or more years as they are in the prime of 
life. Overdriving destroys more horses in our popu- 
lous cities than all other causes combined. 

How TO Blanket Horses. — Many horses after hav- 
ing been driven until they are barely warmed up, if 
not covered as soon as they stop, will contract a violent 
cold almost as soon as a man. So long as a horse is 
kept in motion, there is little danger of his suffering 
any inconveniences from cold winds. But allow him 
to stand still for a few minutes, without a heavy blan- 
ket to protect his shoulders and lungs, and he will take 
cold sooner than some men. When a horse is wet with 
sweat, the better way is not to cover the body with a 
heavy blanket, until the perspiration has partially 
evaporated. Then, before he begins to feel chilly, put 
on the blanket; and the beauty of the hair will be re- 
tained, the blanket w^ill not be filled with vajoor which 
will afterward prove uncomfortable to the animal, and 
he will "cool off" with less danger of contracting cold, 
than when a heavy blanket is laid on his body, before 
any of the perspiration has evaporated. Yet great 
care must be exercised, that a horse does not become 
too cool, before the blanket is applied. 

Many of our best teamsters protect the breasts of 
their horses with a piece of heavy cloth about two feet 
square, hanging down from the lower end of the collar. 
This is an excellent practice in cold weather, as the 



PROTECTING A HORSE IN COLD WEATHER. 513 

most important part of the animal is constantly shielded 
from the cold wind, especially when traveling toward 
a strong current. The forward end of horse blankets 
should be made to fit as closely around the breast of a 
horse as our garments fit our bodies. Those parts of 
the body of a horse which surround the lungs, require 
the benefit of a blanket in preference to his flanks and 
rump. When we are exposed to a current of cold air, 
to guard against any injury from contracting cold, we 
shield our shoulders, neck, chest, and back. If these 
parts be kept protected, the lower part of the body 
will endure a degree of cold far more intense, without 
any injury, than if the lungs were not protected with 
suitable covering. The same thing holds true in the 
protection of horses. The blanket should cover the 
neck, withers, and shoulders, and be brought around 
the breast, and buttoned or buckled together as closely 
as a man buttons his overcoat, when bearing his bosom 
to the driving storm. Let the lungs of a horse be 
kept well protected with a heavy blanket, and he will 
seldom contract cold, even if the hindmost part of his 
body is not covered. When a horse has been put in a 
comfortable stable with his hair wet, his body and limbs 
should be curried and rubbed, for a few minutes; then 
a blanket should cover him until the hair is quite dry. 
The Hight of Horse Stables. — Every stable 
should be so high between joints, that no horse will be 
able to reach the timbers above him when he throws 
up his head. Many an excellent stable has been 
spoiled simply because it would cost ten dollars more 
to carry up the side walls one foot higher. On ac- 
count of these low doors, high horses instinctively learn 



33 



514 TODD's COUNTKl HOMES. 

to fear them, and they shy, rear or prance whenever 
we attempt to lead them in the door. Low stables are 
also among the most frequent causes of poll-evil. 

When a horse is frightened, he throws up his head 
as high as he can get it. Even the echo of the groom's 
voice in a dark stable, will induce a horse to elevate 
his head. A spirited horse will always elevate his 
head if he can get it up, when he is entering a 
strange stable. This is why many horses refuse to be 
led into a low stable. They are afraid. Then, if they 
have entered, something will startle them, when up 
will go the head, and bump goes the poll against the 
beams above, causing a severe bruise; and a deep- 
seated abscess ensues. This is the way the incurable 
poll-evil is produced. When a horse is kept in a lov/ 
stable, speak kindly and deal gently with the brute, 
lest the poll be injured by a severe bump. 

Light for Horse Stables. — Light is a condition of 
vital activity; and in view of preserving the sight of a 
horse, it is necessary that he have free access t(? the 
sun's rays, while he is the habitant of the stable. Re- 
peated experiments show that disease is much more 
frequent in dark,tlian in well lighted apartments. Most 
of the stables in the country, are not provided with 
suitable windows, while a large proportion have none 
at all, the stables being almost as dark as midnight. 
Farmers often saw round holes through the boards of 
frame stables, before each horse, which are closed by 
slides, and these allow pure air to enter as well as light. 
This is a poor plan, but better than nothing. There 
should be windows at the ends or rear, enough to make 
the whole stable as light as a family sitting-room. 



NECESSITY OF LIGHT IN STABLES. 515 

They should be capable of being open for free air in 
summer, and situated so that draughts of air will not 
fall upon the bodies, or legs of the animals. When 
window glass has been broken out, wooden panes are 
often inserted, and cobwebs and dust too frequently 
intercept the light. For the benefit of the eyes of all 
animals, stable windows should be well glazed and fre- 
quently washed. Light is as essential to the healthi- 
ness of the eyes as good food is for the stomach. 
Light strengthens the eye. Darkness, and especially 
sudden changes from darkness to light, tends to weaken 
the vision of both men and animals. When a horse is 
taken from a dark stable, he walks as if he was blind, 
and the light that meets his eyes appears to cause pain. 
When stock stand in their stalls facing a barn floor or 
large feeding-room, if their mangers are not boarded 
up tight, light may be admitted through windows 
above, or in the barn door. But if they stand with 
their heads to the wall, light may enter at any part of 
the stable, except in front of them. But, let horses 
have the advantage of a light stable, whatever may be 
the cost. 

Hobbling' Horses when Difficult to Catch. — 
A great many excellent horses, when turned loose, do 
not like to be approached. And if it is possible for 
them to get away by running, they will not allow one 
to put a halter on their heads. It is an excellent prac- 
tice to tie the fore legs about one foot apart, with a 
small rope, as represented in the illustration, when a 
horse is to be turned loose for a short time. A much 
better way would be to provide a pair of iron hobbles 
to hold the fore feet not more than one foot apart. 



516 



TODD S COUNTKY HOMES. 



There should be a swivel in the chain, to prevent the 
chain from being twisted into kinks. Such a hobble is 
the best device that I have ever met with, to put on a 

horse that is " ugly to 
catch." If a horse has 
learned to jump low 
fences, this style of 
hobbles will prevent all 
efforts to get over al- 
most any fence. A 
strong strap with a 
buckle near each end, 
will be found a con- 
venient hobble. There 
is never any danger 
that a horse will get 
fast with such hobbles 
on. And, horses can 
rise with less difficulty, when both fore legs are hobbled, 
than when the hobbles are attached to one forward leg, 
and one hind leg. 

Not Lying Down. — All horses that are able to rise, 
will lie down, more or less, when in the field, and it is 
always desirable that work horses in particular, should 
get some rest, by lying down while in the stable ; and 
they always will lie down, unless there is a hindering 
cause, which, if possible, should be removed. I will 
mention a few hindrances to horses lying down in the 
stable. Very narrow stalls constitute a serious objec- 
tion, because a horse is likely to strike against the 
partition, or wall, or to lie too much on his feet. Some 
horses never will lie against anything, and if they 




TEMPORARY HOBBLES. 



NOT LYING DOWN. 517 

touch anything, when letting their bodies down, it 
frightens them, so that they will rise in great haste. 
Being tied a little too short hy the halter, will prevent 
their lying down, because, then, they cannot get down. 
As some horses are very neat in their habits, they will 
never lie down in a wet or foul place. Many times, 
the manure is allowed to accumulate in the stalls, so 
that the hindmost part of a horse must necessarily be 
much the highest. Then, if he lies down, his shoulders 
will be in a hollow; and if the manure be frozen, it will 
be Uke a bed of cobble-stones. Sometimes, the floor is 
too slanting, and the surface is hard and slippery, so 
that in his effort to rise, a horse often slips and falls. 
When this is the case, a horse of any spirit dreads to 
lie down. I have known horses not to lie down during 
the night, when the harness, or even the collar, or 
saddle was left on them. Sometimes, in consequence 
of lameness, or being heavy with foal, the animal dreads 
to lie down, because he or she cannot rise without help. 
The remedy in such a case is, in the stable to furnish 
a spacious stall, with a soft wood floor, well cleaned and 
well littered with fine straw, in which the animal may 
be turned loose. I once had a mare, which would not 
lie down in the stall for weeks in succession, when she 
was heavy with foal, unless turned loose into the foal- 
ing stall. But as soon as turned into that, would lie 
down a great deal of the time. I once had a horse 
that would not lie down on an inclined floor, but as soon 
as put on a level floor, would lie down every night. 
These suggestions may seem trivial. But, they are 
eminently important to every one who keeps a horse. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

BREEDING AND REARING NEAT CATTLE. 

Denominations of Neat Cattle — Choice of Cows — Details in the Manage- 
ment of Milch Cows — Apples and Roots for Cows — How to Milk — 
Management of Heifers — Management of Calves — How to Make Butter 
— How to Work and Pack it — Bulls and their Management — Fodder 
Cutter — How to Cut Fodder — Feeding Stock — Fattening Old Animals 
— When to Stop Feeding Fat Animals — General Management of Stock 
— Variety of Food. 
" Cattle court the zephyr's bland, where the streamlet wanders cool, 
Or, with languid silence, stand midway in the marshy pool." 

Cunningham. 

Common Denominations. — The usual denominations 
of neat cattle are as follows : In the United States, the 
word cattle usually, embraces only beasts of the bovine 
genus. 1. Bulls signify entire males. 2. Cows are 
females which have brought forth one, or more calves. 
3. A dry cow may be 2^, farrow cow, or a breeder, with 
calf. 4. A farrow cow is one that failed, from" some 
cause, to bring forth a calf at the usual period, or an- 
nually. 5. A springer is a heifer, or cow which shows 
by her udder, that she is with calf. 6. A heifer is a 
female that has never produced a calf. In order to 
distinguish the difference between old and young heif- 
ers, people in America say a heifer calf, until the ani- 
mal is one year old, after which it is called a yearling 
heifer. After a heifer is one year old, we say a two 
year old, a three, four or five year old heifer. 7. After 



POINTS OF AN EXCELLENT MILCH COW. ' 519 

a bull over two years old has been castrated, he is de- 
nominated a stag. 8. A steer is a male castrated be- 
fore any of the prominent characteristics of a bull have 
been developed. He may be a steer calf, a yearling 
steer, a two, three or four year old steer. 9. Bullocks 
are usually fat steers, over three or more years old, 
which have not been trained to the use of the yoke. 
10. After steers which have learned the use of the 
yoke, are four years old, they are called oxen. 11. At 
the great markets, drovers speak o£ fat oxen and fat 
hidlocks, the latter of which have never been trained 
to the yoke. 12. Oxen are taurine males, over four 
years old, which have been accustomed to the yoke, or 
harness. 13. Free martin is the taurine female of 
twins, one of which is a male. Such females are said 
to be barren. I have met with quite a number of such 
heifers, every one of which had brought forth young, 
or was with calf. 14. Calf, a young taurine male, or 
female, less than one year old. 

Points of an excellent Milch Cow. — 

The sole of lier udder should form a plane, 
And all the four teats equal thickness attain, 
Their length not exceeding two inches or three 
They should hang to the earth perpendicularly. 

Whatever excellent points a cow may possess, the 
first reliable indication of a superior milker is an udder 
and teats of medium size and of fair proportions. Let 
me see no part of a cow but these, and I will select the 
hest milkers and reject the infe^^ior ones with almost 
unerring certainty. A poor milker may be detected 
at a glance, not by a homely form, but by a small 
udder, and teats too short and diminutive to be grasped 
by a hand of ordinary size. If a cow be deficient in 



520 todd's country homes. 

these points, set it down at once against her, that she 
never will be a superior animal for either butter or 
milk, except in a small quantity. A cow having a long 
disproportioned udder, with teats as large as a man's 
wrist, and longer than the width of his hand, may pos- 
sess the qualities of a medium milker, but will never be 
found to vield as much rich milk as a cow havins; a 
square udder, about as large as a ten-quart milk-pail, 
four teats only, a proper distance apart, and nearly as 
long as the width of a man's hand. 

In addition to these signs of a milker, the color of 
the skin is one of the most important indications of a 
superior cow for rich milk. A cow having a hlack, or 
a white skin may give a large quantity of milk, but it 
will be thin and white, often requiring one-third to 
one-half more to make a pound of butter, or cheese, 
than the milk of a cow having a yelloia skin. If a 
cow have a 'yellow skin, whether she be of a red, 
white, brindle, roan, brown, or any other color, and her 
hair feels like velvet, and she have an udder and teats 
of the size and form just alluded to, if she be as homely 
as the old cow with a "crumpled horn," that we read 
of in the " story of the house that Jack built," we may 
feel assured that if w^ell fed and watered, she will 
yield a satisfactory quantity of milk. A superior 
milker must possess a capacious paunch, or she can 
never be expected to consume and digest large quan- 
tities of feed, without which, no cow will be able to 
yield a large quantity of milk. 

Exercising Milch Cows. — Milch cows do not need 
violent exercise, at any time. But every cow should 
have liberty in the open yard, at least four hours, out 



EXERCISING MILCH COWS. 521 

of the twenty-four, so that she may move around, bask 
in the sunshine, and scratch against a rubbing-post. 
All such things add greatly to the health, strength and 
thrift of milch cows. Cows need their liberty, that 
they may lick each other as well as themselves. When 
their heads are confined in stanchions, day after day, 
and night after night, and feed and water are brought 
to them, it is impossible for them to continue in good 
health. It is far better for a cow to have the benefit 
of a comfortable shed, into which she may go at pleas- 
ure, than to be confined by any means in a stall j and 
a chain, rope or strap around her neck is far preferable 
to stanchions. Cows may secrete more flesh and fat, 
for a short time, if confined closely, but their health 
Avill soon fail. Some disease will soon appear in their 
systems. Their appetite will soon fail. The lacteal 
glands will not perform their functions, and the milk 
will not seem so rich and delicious, as the milk of a cow 
that is in perfect health. Weakness, imbecility, and 
efieminacy are always induced by inactivity and close 
confinement of either man or beast. Every anirqal 
must have suitable exercise in order to be healthy and 
strong. If milch cows be tied in their stalls day and 
night, they can not continue in sound health. And if not 
healthy, they can not give good milk. While too much 
warmth will weaken animals, and render them subject 
to disease, the opposite extreme of cold will draw upon 
the food for additional heat for the body, and conse- 
quently less will remain to yield cream. It is, then, 
economical to shelter a milking animal from the cold, 
but at the same time, we must not economize heat to 
the prejudice of the health and comfort of the animal. 



622 todd's country homes. 

Maintaining a full Flow of Milk. — 

" Cows, to give milk, should largely share, in kind attention, watchful care : 
Let them be housed from winter's blast, and kept in flesh till April's past. 
Let all their feed be rich and sweet, made up of things they like to eat." 

Many excellent cows, soon after gestation com- 
mences, will shrink in the usual quantity of milk. 
Therefore as soon as it is known that a cow shrinks in 
her milk, after getting with calf, she should be kept 
from the bull the next season, until the last of July. 
Then she will drop her calf late in the spring, and will 
give a full flow of milk through the entire summer. 
The aim should be to have such cows come in just in 
time to recover from the debilitating effects of partu- 
rition by the time grass is large enough for grazing. 
Then her milk will be had at a season of the year, 
when cows are usually most profitable. But, if they 
are allowed to breed early in the season, they are fre- 
quently very unprofitable cows, and improper manage- 
ment will render them still more so. During the graz- 
ing season, if a cow can be supplied with fresh and 
sweet grass, and clean water, as much as she will eat,, 
a full flow of rich milk will continue until late in 
autumn. 

But, in order to maintain an abundant flow of milk 
in cold weather, a cow must have a comfortable shed or 
stable. If kept in a stable, it should be well ventila- 
ted, as a foul stable, in which the air is not fresh and 
pure, will shortly affect the appetite of a cow, or any 
other animal, and prevent her eating a sufficient 
amount of good feed to produce a full flow of milk. 
An open shed, well littered with dry straw, and suffi- 
ciently close to exclude driving storms and cold winds, 
will be found far preferable to a close stable, poorly 



MAINTAINING THE FLOW OF MILK. 523 

ventilated. Milch cows require a large quantity of 
feed in which there is a liberal supply of succulent ma- 
terial for increasing the flow of milk. If rich milk and 
cream are desirable, a cow must be provided with feed 
containing cream-producing substances. For this pur- 
pose, there is no other feed equal to Indian corn and 
field peas ground together in equal parts, and made 
thin with warm water. Three or four quarts fed twice 
daily, besides good hay and corn-stalks, will enable a 
cow to give as rich milk as when the feed is white clo- 
ver and timothy grass. And if the hay and stalks 
be cut, the meal mingled with the mixture, and the 
mass steamed, a given quantity will yield a much larger 
supply of milk, than if fed uncut and not steamed. If 
a man have but one cow he can put a bushel of cut 
stalks into a tub or half barrel, pour over this a gallon 
of boiling water, mingle four quarts of meal with the 
stalks as soon as the water has been applied, put a 
cover on the feed and a stone on the cover to press it 
down, and let the mass cook for a few hours. A small 
quantity of corn-stalks, hay and meal, when each mess 
is prepared in the foregoing manner, will last a cow foj; 
a long time. Every time a cow is fed, another mess 
should be prepared as already directed. By covering 
the feed close with a weight on the cover, everything 
will be cooked through and through in a few hours. 
Some kinds of feed will maintain animal heat, some 
kinds will form muscle, and other kinds will yield milk. 
Ground peas will afford more milk than oat meal or 
Indian meal. If a cow is fed with buckwheat bran, 
still-slops, or dish-water, and poor swill, she may yield 
a large quantity of milk, but it will be as white as the 



524 todd's country homes. 

unsullied snow, thin as alcohol, and as insipid as chalk 
and water. A milch cow must be well supplied in cold 
weather with three things — good feed, drink, and a 
comfortable shed — or she will grow poor. Carrots will 
make much richer milk than the common white field 
turnips. Rutabaga turnips are almost as good as car- 
rots for making milk. Poor corn-stalks and mouldy 
hay will never produce milk equal to prime clover and 
timothy hay. Beets will yield more milk than carrots, 
but it will not be so rich as if the cow were supplied 
with good carrots. When cows are well fed and properly 
milked, they can not be expected to yield a large sup- 
ply of milk, unless they have an abundance of good 
water several times a day. Once or twice is not suffi- 
cient. In hot weather, they need it three times daily. 
They relish a pailful of good water, as we do a cooling 
draught from the "old oaken bucket." And they 
must have it, or they will not and can not yield an 
abundant supply of milk. Large cows that have ac- 
cess to pure water, often drink twenty gallons daily, 
during the hot weather, and this water assists greatly 
in keeping up the flow of milk. Withhold a part of 
it, and the supply diminishes. As soon as cows have 
filled themselves with grass they often desire to drink 
They seldom take much water into an empty stomach. 
Consequently if they are required to drink at a pool 
of standing, dirty water, perhaps defiled by dung, they 
will drink no more than is absolutely necessary to sus- 
tain life. Such water is not refreshing to cows, or any 
other animals, and no one need expect that milch cows 
will keep up the quantity of milk, so long as they are 
required to use such an unwholesome drink. 



APPLES AND ROOTS FOR CATTLE. 525 

Apples for Milch Cows. — If fed in small quan- 
tities, sweet apples, and those that are only of a sub- 
acid taste, will be found excellent for cows, or for any 
kind of stock. An unfavorable opinion of apples, as 
food for cows, has sometimes arisen from the furious 
over-feeding of half-starved animals, which have ac- 
cidently broken into orchards, and brought on disease, 
fever, and consequent drying of milk by immoderate 
gorging. A reason for renouncing such food, would 
as well apply to the exclusion of oats from horses and 
cold water from men, because they are sometimes in- 
jured by an excess. Late in autumn most cows shrink 
very much in the quantity of milk they afford, more 
especially as soon as the sharp night frosts destroy the 
succulence of the pastures. It is at this period that 
moderate feedings of sweet apples, say six quarts given 
morning and evening, have restored the quantity, of 
milk and increased its richness ; and a great advantage 
has resulted, where a supply could be had for feeding 
through winter. The better way to feed apples to 
stock of any kind is to run them through a turnip cut- 
ter, or crush them with a large wooden mallet. Then 
sprinkle meal or bran on them. 

Roots for Cattle. — Every cow, calf, steer and ox 
should receive, during the foddering season, a liberal 
supply of some kind of roots, in connection with their 
other feed. My own practice, when on the farm, was 
to feed each cow and steer half a bushel of turnips, 
daily, at noon. Of course, calves and yearlings did 
not receive so large a quantity of the finely-cut roots, 
as a full-grown animal. In addition to the roots and 
other feed, there must be tact in. feeding and manage- 



526 todd's country homes. 

ment. It is this which often tells on domestic animals, 
quite as much as food. Every farmer who keeps no 
more than one cow, or fifty sheep, should no more 
think of wintering his stock without roots, than with- 
out hay. Read about turnips in the chapter on horti- 
culture. 

Peevious Maistagement. — As I dip my pen to record 
a few comuion sense directions, under this head, for the 
management of cows, for a few weeks previous to calv- 
ing, what a large drove of superior cows the mind 
reverts to, which were lost — not ray cows — by mis- 
management — by killing with kindness! The great 
danger at calving time, arises from the j)uer2)eral fever, 
which is superinduced by numerous causes, but chiefly 
by over-feeding. A cow must not be fed high, even 
with grass, until after she has passed this critical period. 
If her udder is full, confine her for a month in poor 
pasture, or allow her to have a limited supply of grass 
once a day. Then, let her eat straw. She will not 
starve. I have often kept a cow for ten days previous 
to calving, on a small allowance of grass, a little hay, 
and all the straw she would eat. This was when there 
was a tendency to inflammation in the udder, and to 
garget. But, every day, when the cow did not re- 
ceive a feeding of green feed, a few quarts of roots 
were fed with three or four quarts of wheat bran. 
This food kept the bowels open, and facilitated parturi- 
tion. I never milked a cow previous to calving, as the 
hiestings — the first milk — should be swallowed by the 
young calf If a cow, and particularly a heifer, is fat, 
permit her to have access to water, before calving, but 
feed very low. If cows are fed highly, the nourish- 



THE EIGHT WAT TO MILK. 527 

ment of the blood renders the growth of the foetus 
more rapid than is desirable, and the result will be a 
largely grown calf, which is especially dangerous for 
heifers. It is the food which the heifer receives during 
this period which determines the calf's size, rather than 
the sire, as is often supposed. Whilst, therefore, we 
guard against this dangerous error, we must not keep 
a cow short of food, or we sliall have weakly calves 
produced. A moderate allowance of food will be far 
better than either extreme. An animal which is in 
high condition is far more liable to disease after calving. 
Prevention, however, being better than cure, it should 
be our object to follow the happy medium of giving 
them keep of sufficient quality to support them in good 
condition. 

The Right Wat to Milk. — 

" The cows with swelling udders ready stand, 
And lowing for the pail, invite the milker's hand." 

Cows have such complete control of the lacteal or- 
gans, that it is difficult to get all the milk they will 
yield, at one time, without careful and gentle manage- 
ment. A cow must be entirely quiet, so that she can 
feed, or chew the cud without fear, or a milker can not 
get her milk. Cows must not be afraid of a milker. 
If he is a rough, harsh, bawling and abusive milker, 
a cow will not give down her milk. 

I was once my own cow-boy and milker, for nearly 
a score of years, and my practice always was, when 
cows were in their stalls, to feed them first. Then re- 
move all litter, and spread a clean supply of bedding 
beneath each animal. Every udder was then washed 
as clean as water would make it. By this time, the 
teats would be full of milk. A long milking stool was 



528 todd's country homes. 

then placed so that I could sit on one end, and the 
pail on the other, beneath the udder. After the milk 
began to flow, both hands were applied, with all their 
strength, until the last drop had been drawn. As soon 
as one cow was finished, the milk was emptied in an- 
other pail, so that, in case of any casualty, less milk 
would be lost. After the last cow was milked, the ud- 
ders and my hands would be as clean as could be de- 
sired. Cows should be milked by one person, regularly. 
A stranger friend desired to milk my best cow, which 
yielded regularly, twelve quarts at a milking. But, 
the fastidious brute would not give down over eight 
quarts. And even my own hands, to which she was 
accustomed, could not withdraw the usual quantity, 
until the next day. Extreme neatness when milking, 
is of transcendent importance. 

Feeding cows while they are being milked is always 
an excellent practice, if they are not already filled, as 
a good pailful of warm slop consisting of equal parts 
of ground peas, Indian corn, and wheat bran scalded 
and allowed to soak over night, will so divert the 
cow's attention that she will not think of kicking. It 
is the habit of many persons who keep but one or two 
cows, to take, morning and night, into the barn a pail- 
ful of moist feed at the same time they do the empty 
milk-pail. Others bring a basket of ears of corn from 
the crib, while a still greater number pitch down and 
lay before the cow a fork full of hay preparatory to 
milking. The object in all these cases is the same, 
to give the cow something that will keep her in good 
humor while she is being milked. This foddering is 
the basis of a compromise, in which it is agreed that 



MANAGEMENT OF HEIFERS. 529 

the COW shall keep her legs and tail still while she is 
being milked, but shall be at entire liberty to exercise 
with her nose as much as she pleases. 

Remedy for Kicking. — It is natural for cows to 
yield their milk. They rather like it. If they kick, 
we may depend that there is something wrong, as a 
cow will not kick, if she has been properly trained, 
when every appliance is all right. Long finger nails 
are a fruitful source of kicking cows. The udder and 
teats of some cows are extremely sensitive, and great 
care should be taken to handle them so as to cause no 
pain or uneasiness. Some milkers go to work as if they 
were operating on a piece of leather, wringing the teat 
and pressing their sharp finger-nails into it. Then, if 
the cow attempts to relieve herself of the pain inflicted, 
she is straightway pounded and otherwise abused until 
she becomes a confirmed kicker. Teats are sometimes 
tender and sore. When handled, unless the sore teats 
are first bathed in tepid -water, the cow will kick. 
Careless milkers will often pull the long hairs while 
they are milking. Then, of course, a cow Avill kick. 
Cows will not kick, if the milker does not hurt their 
teats. 

Management of Heifers. — The training of heifers 
should commence when they are calves. They should 
be handled, and petted, and stroked, and thus be di- 
vested of all timidity. A wild cow will never yield 
as much milk as if she were perfectly docile. In case 
a heifer has been permitted to run wild, until she has 
come in, when driving, or handling her in any way, 
one must be patient, and never exhibit temper. Never 
strike or kick a heifer. She must first of all get ac- 

34 



530 todd's country homes. 

quainted with you, and learn that you will not hurt 
her. She must- learn not to fear you. If, in winter, it 
is best to milk in the stable, make as few alarming mo- 
tions as possible. Handle very gently. Be careful 
and not pinch the teats. This is a great source of 
trouble. A heifer will often stand quietly until some 
careless milker has given a squeeze that hurts, when 
she will kick and run. By allowing such a course a 
few times, the habit will be confirmed. The best way 
to manage, if you have no stable, is to have a small, 
well-fenced yard, and teach your heifers to stand for 
milking in that ; or, next best, to tie them, using them 
very quietly. No person should be allowed to handle 
a heifer, who will not treat her with extreme gentle- 
ness. A heifer cannot be taught to be docile, gentle 
and familiar with persons, in a day or a month. Habits 
are slowly formed, and, if we would secure the highest 
results, the animal should be petted while young, and 
should have a constant familiarity with persons. Fond- 
ling and petting young heifers help to create a quiet 
disposition, so important to a dairy cow. But this edu- 
cation must begin when they are young. Calves and 
heifers should be freely handled, but never irritated or 
plagued, as this will teach them bad habits, which they 
will not forget as they grow older. For a superior 
milker, I prefer a heifer to come in, when three years 
old, and if she has been well kept so as to have attained 
good size, she will then be old enough to become a cow. 
The habit of giving milk is in part a matter of educa- 
tion, and it is better to form that habit young. The 
impression prevails with many, that good blood is the 
only important requisite in rearing dairy stock. To 



HOW LONG SHOULD COWS BE MILKED. 531 

reach the highest success somethmg more is necessary 
— the stock must have good keep and kind care. Good 
blood is requisite, but the best milking strain may be 
rendered inferior by poor keep and a bad education. 

How Lojf G SHOULD Cows BE MiLKED ? — Every cow 
that rears a calf annually should go dry, for the pur- 
pose of rest and recuperation, not less than four weeks, 
and in some instances, the time should be extended to 
eight or even to twelve weeks. If a cow be in full 
flesh when she is about to come in, during the growing 
season, she may be milked eleven months in a 3^ear. 
On the contrary, when the same cow is expected to 
come in during the foddering season she ought to go 
dry at least two months. If a cow be in thin flesh she 
should have three months for recuperation and rest, 
especially if it is desirable to rear a good calf The 
discreet husbandman should exercise much prudence 
and discretion in deciding how long a cow may be 
milked, as no rule can be given that is applicable to 
even a majority of cows. We do know this much, that 
milch cows require rest or cessation from being milked 
as much as oxen that labor need rest. In many in- 
stances, a cow thin in flesh is milked during most of 
the winter months, and the result is — as it always will 
be — that more will be lost in the production of butter 
and cheese the following summer than was gained by 
milking through the winter. When heifers are dried 
up too early after calving, they will always run dry 
about the same time in after years. For this reason, 
it is advisable to milk a heifer, not less than ten months 
after she has dropped her first calf If a cow is rather 
thin in flesh, and it is desirable to rear a good calf, 



532 todd's country homes. 

when a cow is far advanced in calf, it is necessary to 
stop milking her, in order that the entire nourishment 
of the system be shared between the growth of the calf 
and in giving fresh vigor and strength to the dam. It 
is usual to give two months' rest. But with high bred 
stock, which do not nourish their calves very well, three 
months is decidedly better. We thus divert the nour- 
ishment which would be drawn away as milk, and the 
result is a great improvement in the calf, the cow is 
prepared for the delivery of her calf, and the subse- 
quent flow of milk will be increased. 

Pure Water for Milch Cows. — Milk is composed 
of about eighty-seven parts in every one hundred, of 
pure water. Consequently, any cow that yields a large 
supply of milk, must drink more water than another 
animal will require, which does not secrete an equal 
quantity of the lacteal fluid. Milch cows should rather 
be induced to take all the water they will, and at no 
time should they be allowed to suffer from thirst. Every 
observing person must have noticed how rapidly cows 
shrink of their milk in hot, dry weather, when they do 
not get their usual supply. Cows, of course, will live 
where the daily supply of water is limited, and by 
yielding a less quantity of milk, they adapt themselves 
to the circumstances under which they are placed. 
When water is not abundant, or is not of easy access, 
cows will soon educate themselves to get along with a 
much smaller quantity than they would, were it placed 
before them in abundance. I have frequently known 
great milkers to drink seven or eight wooden water 
pailfuls, every day. I once owned a great milker, that 
would drink half a barrel of water, every day. Milch 



CUTTING OFF COW's TAILS AND TEATS. 533 

COWS do not like to drink often. When they do drink, 
they want two or three pailfals. And, if they do not 
have all they require, the supply of milk will not be 
so great as if they had access to clean water. 

Cutting off Cows' Tails. — The caudal appendage 
of a cow is an important weapon of defense in fly-time, 
which milch cows should not be deprived of If we do 
not know how to manage it, when milking, a tail is 
often a despicable annoyance. I have known many 
milkers to be so enraged by the unceremonious switch- 
ings of a cow's tail, when they were milking, that they 
would cut them off in a fit of passion ! Such cruelty 
is inexcusable. A cow needs a long switch-tail to pro- 
tect her body from the torments of flies. She will 
yield more milk, than if her tail were removed, as flies 
will annoy and fret an animal almost to distraction. 
And cows cannot yield a full supply of milk, if they 
are not permitted to pass most of their time in quiet 
rumination. I have never experienced any difficulty 
from a cow's tail, when milking, as the end was held 
in the fold of the milker's leg, as he bends the knee, 
while sitting on a stool. By such management, a 
milker has complete control of such an annoyance. In 
case the flies bite, so that a cow is about to kick, the 
switch can be released for a moment. 

Cutting off Teats. — Some cows have one or two 
teats in rear of the larger ones, which are a serious 
inconvenience when milking. Sometimes, too, these 
small teats will be so very close to the large ones, that 
it is quite inconvenient to milk these, because small 
teats are in the way. One of my best cows had a teat, 
as large as a man's thumb, close to one of the hinder- 



534 todd's country homes. 

most teats. The calf would suck it, but we could not 
milk it, because it was so small and so close to the large 
one. As such an arrangement was very unpleasant 
when milking, I ventured to try an experiment, at re- 
moving the small one. The cow was tied securely in 
the stall by her head, and her two hind legs tied to- 
gether, so that she could not kick. With the pliers, I 
twisted the ends of a piece of very small wire together, 
after it had been put around the teat close to the large 
end. The wire was twisted up so tightly, that all cir- 
culation was cut off, and in about three or four weeks 
the teat dropped off, and the base of it healed up 
neatly, leaving no issue. It never produced soreness 
in the udder, as I feared it might, while the wire was 
on it. Since that experiment, I have taken off several 
teats by means of a wire — always when the cow was 
dry — and the skin always healed over the issue. 

Abortion in Cows. — It is quite as natural for cows 
to bring forth calves, and rear them, as it is for them 
to eat grass. And, it is exceedingly imnatural for them 
to abort. Consequently, there must be some local cause 
or causes, which, if removed, would prevent abortion. 
The all-absorbing question, therefore is. What is the 
cause, and what is the remedy ? The answer is phil- 
osophical, scientific and practical, although quite differ- 
ent from anything that has heretofore been assigned as 
a cause of and a remedy for this disease. It can all be 
expressed in one word — management — the management 
of dairy-men. For scores of years, cows and young 
cattle have been gathering, picking and carrying away 
the particles of phosphate in the grass, which are 
essential to the formation of the bones of domestic ani- 



CAUSE OF GAEGET IN MILCH COWS. 535 

mals, until the grass and hay is deficient, in the neces- 
sary supply of these substances. This is a part of the 
cause of this disease. The injudicious practice of 
"deaconing" the young calves completes the cause. 
The latter alone would be sufficient to produce such a 
result. But when taken in connection with the former, 
the true cause appears quite obvious. It may seem a 
frivolous thing to destroy all the calves as soon as they 
begin to live, and the suggestion that it does make a 
vast difference in the thrift of a cow, whether she rears 
a calf or not, may be sneered at, yet our dairy-men will 
find, sooner or later, that before they can rid their 
herds of this fearful scourge, they will be required to 
supply phosphatic material to their pastures and 
meadows, as an equivalent, for the vast quantities of 
phosphate that have been removed, in years past, and 
to allow their cows to rear their calves. It is always 
better for a cow, or any other feminine animal, to rear 
her offspring. The rearing of a calf by the dam exerts 
an influence on the health and disposition of the cow 
which nothing else in the world can do. Cows are 
composed of flesh and blood. A maternal instinct has 
been implanted in the animal for her young. She loves 
her calf. To nourish her little one, to protect and 
fondle it, supplies a want of her maternal nature which 
the best of food and care of the kindest herdsman can 
never satisfy. Many cows "also are supplied with hay, 
in which there is a sufficient quantity of fungus, like 
the ergot in rye, to produce abortion. (See Rye, page 
377.) All these things operating together, constitute 
the cause of abortion. 

Cause of Garget in Milch Cows. — Garget in milch 



536 todd's country homes. 

cows is produced by several causes operating at the 
same time. It cannot be attributed to either one sep- 
arately. When cows have the garget just before and 
immediately after calving, it is caused by too high feed- 
ing in part, by the sympathetical influence of the puer- 
peral fever in part, and by taking a little cold. The 
spongy material of the internal portion of the udder 
becomes inflamed and swells, the milk coagulates, and 
sometimes the udder breaks, to form an egress for the 
foul matter that has collected. When cows come in 
during hot weather, if they have access to an abun- 
dance of grass, and are "great milkers," and go un- 
milked for a long time previous to parturition, if the 
udder is distended to its greatest capacity, they are 
liable to have the garget. When some cows are milked 
irregularly, and not clean, they will often have the 
garget. If a heifer have the garget the first time she 
comes in, unless extra care can be exercised, she will 
have it worse and worse every year when she comes in. 
It is always better to exercise care to prevent garget than 
to employ remedies to cure it. If a cow is disposed to 
have it every time she comes in, the best and sure pre- 
ventive is to milk her regularly, once or twice every 
day, or once in two days, as her udder may seem to 
require, before she drops her calf. It is a rare occur- 
rence, however, that it will be necessary to milk a cow 
previous to parturition, if milked entirely clean, as 
soon as the calf has sucked the biestings. (Read Pre- 
vious Management of Cows.) 

The best remedy for garget usually is to draw out 
every drop of milk and give the cow a piece of 23oke 
root, sliced fine, every day, about as large as a man's 



MAKING EXCELLENT BUTTER. 537 

forefinger, and bathe twice a day with water for half 
an hour, then apply a solution of arnica and whiskey, 
well rubbed in. Besides this, draw as much milk from 
the affected teat as possible. If this does not effect a 
cure, the injury is probably so serious that she will lose 
the use of one or more teats. Should the teat or that 
part of the udder be so tender that the cow will not 
suffer the milk to be drawn out entirely clean, let other 
teats be milked clean, and then permit a calf to suck 
the tender teat as long as any milk can be obtained. 
The best thing that can be done for an affected udder 
and teats is to draw out all the milk often, and bathe 
it with cold water for half an hour, several times daily. 
Making Excellent Butter. — Every time I pass 
through the butter market in New York, I reflect how 
many thousands of dollars our farmers' wives lose by 
making poor butter; and how many thousands they 
might save, by simply making the same butter so neat 
and clean, that it could be sold for just twice as much 
as they now receive for it. Females who make only a 
little butter annually, cannot save so much money in 
any other way, as by exercising themselves in habits 
of superlative neatness. There is no danger of being 
too neat. But there is a wonderful liability to disre- 
gard neatness, and spoil the butter. Dirt and milk, 
filth and cream, offensive odors and butter, are perfect 
antagonisms. Dairy-men may better turn their milk 
and cream into the pig's trough, than to undertake to 
make a fair quality of butter, where everything that 
comes in contact with the milk or cream, is not as per- 
fectly clean as the unsullied snow. If people who 
always make butter that will not bring more than half 



538 todd's countky homes. 

the price of a choice article in market, could see the 
peculiar management of neat dairy-men and dairy- 
women, they would at once perceive how much money 
they lose by not being neat, and how much they 
might save by doing everything in the neatest possible 
manner. Thousands of firkins of butter are sold in 
market for fifteen cents per pound, that might have 
brought the owner thirty cents quicker than fifteen, if 
the persons who did the milking, churning, etc., had 
been as neat in their habits as the birds of the air. A 
farmer's wife who makes forty-two firkins of butter in 
the season, for sale, can well afford to be as neat as a 
milliner's bandbox, when she can save fifty dollars on 
two firkins, by simply having everything sweet and 
clean. If you make a firkin of butter weighing one 
hundred pounds, having everything clean and neat, 
you can get forty dollars for it. By being a Utile neat, 
the butter will sell for twenty or thirty dollars. But 
let the milking and all else be done in a " good- 
enough" way, and you will get only fifteen dollars for 
the firkin of one hundred pounds. 

A Recipe for Making Butter would read about 
thus : Let the milk-pail be clean and sweet. See that 
the udder of every cow and the hands of the milker 
are perfectly clean. Let the milk be strained before 
it has become cool. If milk is allowed to become cold 
in winter, you cannot always make choice butter of 
the cream. Let the milk be set in a clean and airy 
place, where the temperature will favor the rising of 
the cream. Cream will not rise satisfactorily where 
the temperature approaches freezing point or summer 
heat. As soon as the cream has risen it should be 



MAKING BUTTER. 539 

skimmed off, and be kept where the temperature is 
about sixty degrees. The churn should be neat, clean, 
and as sweet as a China sugar-bowl. Cream should not 
be kept over three days, at the longest. Keep it a week 
before churning and get fifteen cents per pound for 
your butter. Churn every day, and get forty cents. 
There is a chance to save money. Keep a neat white 
napkin over the cream-pot, which should always be as 
clean as a piece of satin ribbon. Let the churning be 
done early in the morning, and see that the person 
who churns has clean hands and clean clothes on. See 
that the dairy-maid who works the butter has clean 
and sweet hands, rosy cheeks, and is dressed in a neat 
calico frock and clean white apron. Work the butter 
as soon as it is churned, salt it in part, and keep it in 
a cool, neat and sweet place. The next day work it 
again, salt it to your taste, and pack it neatly in sweet- 
smelling butter-tubs, and spread a clean and damp 
cloth over the surface. Procure the best quality of 
salt, and mingle about one ounce of salt per pound. 

Chuening. — It is a fact which can be established by 
the untold quantities of poor butter, that everybody 
does not know how to churn, or rather how to produce 
butter from cream, or we should have less growling, 
because the butter will not "come." All who have 
had any experience in the matter know the apparently 
perverse nature of butter. At times it will come in a 
few minutes, and sometimes will not come at all. If 
the cream, or milk is always alike, in every respect, 
the butter will come alike. The difficulty, then, is in 
the managemeyit of the cream. There are several con- 
ditions which influence the time required for separating 



640 todd's countey homes. 

the butter by churning, and if these are thoroughly 
understood and compUed with, there will be little or 
no trouble in getting butter to come. The main and 
most important condition is the temperature of the 
cream when it enters the churn. There seems to be a 
certain medium established, and it seems to make but 
little difference whether the temperature of the cream 
is above or below it, there will still be the same trouble 
in breaking the casein which envelopes the globules of 
butter. The cream when poured into the churn, should 
not have a higher temperature than sixty degrees nor 
a lower one than five degrees. When put in at this 
temperature, it will rise from five to ten degrees during 
the operation of churning. 

The time occupied in churning has a great effect upon 
butter, and also upon the temperature of the cream in 
the churn. If the cream is at fifty-five degrees when put 
into the churn, very fast churning will raise it too high, 
and soft, light-colored butter will be the result, espe- 
cially in warm weather. In cold weather the motion 
should be faster, in order to keep up the j)roper tem- 
perature. I have known entire churnings to be thrown 
into the hog-tub because one or two of these necessary 
conditions were not complied with. Even when the 
churn fails to separate the butter, there is one unfail- 
ing agent left in the form of heat, which never fails to 
burst the film of casein, although it will not produce 
an article fit to be called butter. There is no earthly 
use in penning another word, as a person must learn 
by practical experience, certain things which can not 
be taught by pen and paper. 

How TO WoEK BuTTEE. — The true way to separate 



HOW TO WORK BUTTER. 541 

the buttermilk from the butter, is to gash the butter 
with a sharp-edged ladle, or with a large wooden knife, 
so that the milk will flow readily into the gashes. 
Then, as the gashes are closed, by pressure, every drop 
of milk will flow out, as it cannot be forced again into 
the butter. Working butter with the bare hands, which 
is practiced by people, is a mode of working butter, far 
more in keeping with the intelligence of the Dark 
Ages, than the present time. Kneading and crushing 
butter should never be allowed, as it injures its excel- 
lence. But, gash it and press it together, gently, until 
all the milk is removed. After the milk is separated, 
gash it, and sprinkle salt in the gashes. Then close 
them, gash it in the opposite direction, and add salt as 
at the first. When butter is worked by means of a 
roller, by squeezing or kneading it with the bare hands, 
or by crushing and smoothing the surface by pressure, 
the best of butter will appear waxy and sticky when 
tasted, and will exhibit very little or none of that pe- 
culiar appearance which is called grain. Butter should 
never be smoothed and crushed while it is being 
worked, as such manipulation tends to destroy the grain, 
by rendering it "salvey" or adhesive. A pure article 
of salt should be obtained in the first place. Then keep 
the butter where it will not absorb foul gases, and bad 
odors. Salt that is allowed to get damp and is exposed 
in this condition to the effluvia of rotten vegetables the 
odors from carrion, the sink, or cess-pools, is not fit to 
be put into butter. 

There are vast quantities of butter to be found in 
the markets, of good color, properly salted, the butter- 
milk expelled, and yet it has a mussy look and lardy 



642 todd's countky homes. 

t 

taste. Consumers are often at a loss to account for it. 
The butter is not rancid nor has it any disagreeable 
odor, but it is poor nevertheless. Such butter may 
have been made from the nicest cream, with the utmost 
attention to cleanliness in every branch of its manufac- 
ture, from the milking to its packing in the firkin. The 
maker, perhaps, has expended all her knowledge and 
every resource within her reach to get a prime article, 
hoping for a name in the market and an advanced price 
for a really " tip-top " article. And when the expert 
tells her the butter is inferior and must be classed as 
second or third rate, it is very disheartening, and some 
give up in despair of ever learning "the knack" of 
manufacturing a strictly nice article. They cannot im- 
agine why butter, upon which so much care and atten- 
tion has been given, should be condemned as having a 
greasy look and taste. 

Packing Butter.- — In order to have good butter 
continue to keep sweet, one must have a clean, sweet, 
well-ventilated cellar for butter, and it must be used 
for nothing else. Then he must get oak firkins, heavy 
hooped, air-tight, and made just as handsome as the 
best cooper can turn them out. Or a stone jar will 
be better still. There are only a few kinds of wood 
that are fit to pack butter in. Wood of the ash is ex- 
tensively used in some sections. It contains an acid 
very objectionable to butter, and should be rejected. 
Spruce, pine and gummy woods are often used. They 
impart a disagreeable flavor to the butter. White oak 
makes an excellent package, but the wood should be 
thoroughly seasoned before using. Many dairy-men 
invariably select poor packages because they are cheap. 



MAKING YELLOW BUTTEK IN WINTER. 543 

To save a few cents on a package, they are willing to 
run the risk of losing a considerable sum on the butter 
which is to fill it. If sold immediately, however, the 
loss will fall on somebody else. In preparing firkins 
and tubs for use, boiling water should be poured into 
them to soak for twenty-four hours. Then fill with 
strong brine for two or three days, turn out and rinse 
with pure cold water, and rub the sides with pure fine 
salt. Tubs after being filled should be headed, and brine 
poured in at a hole in the top so as to fill all interven- 
ing spaces. Firkins when filled may be covered with 
a thin piece of muslin, upon which is spread a layer of 
fine salt. It requires a person of neat habits to make 
superior butter. I never have known a slack and slut- 
tish housekeeper to make good butter. ' 

Making Yellow Butter in Winter. — Cows that 
are required to subsist on straw, in which no green 
thing can be discovered, can not furnish milk that will 
make yellow butter. Hay, whether it were made of 
clover, timothy, or any other grass, that was allowed 
to stand until dead ripe before cutting, will not be suit- 
able feed for .producing yellow butter. White turnips, 
buckwheat bran or even wheat bran and shorts will not 
furnish material for yellow butter. Many persons, 
aware of this fact, have mingled otter, or other color- 
ing matter in the butter to give it a golden color. But 
this is not the correct way to make yellow butter. Bet- 
ter by far feed carrots to the cows than to mingle them 
with the cream. 

No difficulty is ever experienced in making yellow 
butter when the cows have access to grass. If the grass 
were cut and cured properly, little if any of the but- 



544 todd's country homes. 

ter-producing material would be lost during the process 
of curing. Therefore, if the grass be cut at the most 
proper time of making the best quality of hay, it will 
produce yellow butter quite as well as if consumed be- 
fore it was made into hay. It is the quality of feed 
that makes butter yellow or white, more than the cow, 
though it is not denied that the milk of some cows will 
make much whiter butter than others, when they all 
subsist on the same kind of feed. The management 
of the milk and cream, also, will exert nearly as much 
influence in producing yellow butter as the quality and 
kind of feed. If a good cow, having a yellowish skin, 
be fed with first quality of red clover hay, that appears 
as green and fragrant as when it came from the meadow, 
and on corn-stalks that have not been bleached to a 
light brown color, and with a few quarts of yellow In- 
dian corn meal daily, with some carrots or turnips, and 
potatoes or cabbage-leaves, and if proper cleanliness be 
observed in milking, and in the management of the 
cream, yellow butter can be produced in winter almost 
as well as during the grazing season. Still-slops, dish- 
water, and swill, which will increase the. quantity of 
milk, will not make yellow^ butter. The cream requires 
excellent care in cold weather, and should be churned 
at least twice every week. When cream is exposed to 
changes of heat and cold for several days, the butter is 
apt to be white as lard. 

Bulls — their care and management. — 

"The youthful bull must wander in the wood, 
Behind the mountain or beyond the flood; 
Or, in the yard, at home, his fodder find, 
Far from the cliarms of his alluring kind. 
Would'st thou their courage and their strength improve ? 
Too soon, they must not feel the stings of love." — Dryden's ViKGlL. 



DAILY CARE OF BULLS. 545 

The practice of forcing the growth of a calf that is 
to be kept for a bull, by allowing him to have the milk 
of two cows, and meal besides, is not a good one. The 
most satisfactory way that I have ever tried, is to put 
the calf with a young cow that does not give milk, and 
let the two graze together. But, other cows must not 
be allowed to go in the same field, as the young bull, 
after he is a few months old, will learn to suck them. 
The aim should be, when rearing a " stock bull," to keep 
the young animal growing, slowly, until his frame is 
properly developed. During the first winter, a young 
bull should receive not less than one quart of oat-meal 
daily, in addition to hay and other feed. Oat-meal 
will produce muscle, rather than fat. The practice of 
allowing yearling bulls to perform all the service re- 
quired among a large number of cows, is to be de- 
nounced as tending to pernicious consequences and 
fatal results, such as general abortion. 

Daily Care of Bulls. — Bulls can not get good stock 
unless they are in good health and well kept, and they 
can not have good health, when confined in a stall from 
week to week, and taken out only to drink, or for ser- 
vice. They need exercise every day. If they are not 
lead about, at least two hours daily, they should have 
the benefit of a large box-stall, or a small yard, en- 
closed with a strong fence. Exercise will give them 
strength, and render them much quicker in service, 
and far more sure. Every bull should be provided 
with a strong post, against which he can rub, at pleas- 
ure, and try his strength. Close confinement will 
render bulls imbecile, slow, and uncertain getters of 
superior calves. A bull is a huge bundle of nervous, 

35 



540 todd's countey homes. 

and restless vitality. If such animals be kept tied up 
in close confinement, day and night, they are compara- 
tively feeble. There will always be a great lack of 
vigor in their movements, and if they possess all the 
good points of a most perfect animal, they can not 
transmit those excellencies to their ofispring with any 
degree of certainty. 

The best way to manage a bull is to enclose a small 
yard with a high fence that he can not look over, nor 
through. Then, erect an open shed in one corner, and 
make a broad stall so that he can have a clean and dry 
place to stand and lie on. At one end, make a strong 
manger, so that he can be fed without entering his en- 
closure. A strong rubbing pole should be provided, so 
that a bull can rub any part of his body. Beside-s 
this, bulls should be allowed to ''slam bang" around 
in contact with somethino; that will be the means of 
keeping them healthful and strong. 

A Bull's Rubbing Pole. — 

" With two fair eyes, his mistress burns his breast ; 
He looks, and languishes and leaves his rest ; 
And, therefore, to repair his strength he tries, 
Hardening liis limbs, with painful exercise, 
Upon the rough and flinty rock he lies." — Drtden's Virgil. 

The most economical way of making a rubbing pole 
for a bull, or for horned cattle of any kind, is to set two 
strong posts in the ground, three feet in depth. Let 
one extend four and one-half feet above the surface of 
the ground, and the other about two feet. These posts 
should be about twelve feet apart. Then bolt a strong 
pole from the top of one post to the other. By this 
arrangement, a bull of any size, can pass beneath the 
pole, and rub his back, and at the lower end, can rub 



HOW TO "KAKEy" an OX OR BULL. 547 

his brisket, neck, head, or buttock. Such a rubbing- 
pole will prove a wonderful source of amusement to a 
bull, as well as to other animals, when the j have access 
to it. 

How TO "Rarey" an Ox or Bull. — It is, usually, 
a very difficult operation to do anything with the feet 
of an ox or bull, unless they are first put in a sling, or 
some similar place. They do not like to have their 
feet handled, and sometimes, they will not allow one 
even to feel of their feet. I once owned a large and 
strong Durham bull, that became very lame in one of 
his forward feet, and although he was very docile and 
tractable, he would allow no one to examine his feet. 
He continued to grow more lame from day to day, and 
it seemed necessary that we should make an effort to 
remove the cause, if we could ascertain what it was. 
We tied his head firmly to a solid post, allowing him 
about one foot play. Then we tied a small rope 
around the forward leg that was not lame, close to his 
body, and carried it over his back, making a loop in 
the end of it that would not slip. This loop was up 
almost to the top of his shoulders. Now we took an- 
other small rope and tied a slip-knot around the fet- 
lock of the lame foot, and passed the upper end of this 
rope through the loop of the one that was tied to the 
other leg. Then we took hold of his leg to raise the 
foot, and as the foot came up, with the other hand the 
rope was jerked through the loop and tied in a hurry. 
This held his foot up, with his knee bent, while he 
stood on three feet. After making a few unsuccessful 
attempts to get away, and to put down his foot, he suc- 
cumbed, and was gentle as a lamb, and allowed me to 



548 todd's country homes. 

liandle his foot, examine it, and pare it, and to remove 
the little stone between his hoofs. When it is desira- 
ble to handle a hind foot, the most convenient way is 
to secure the head in a stall, set up a post firmly, 
about two feet back of the animal, bore a hole through 
it, about one foot from the floor, then, with a small 
rope around 'the fetlock, and put through the hole, 
draw the foot up and tie the rope. The hind feet of 
oxen may be handled in this manner, especially when 
it is desirable to take off their shoes. 

Management of Calves. — The first thing to be at- 
tended to, as soon as the calf is dropped, is to aid the 
dam in removing the sack in which the young animal 
has been enveloped, to rub the limbs with dry cloths, 
and to aid it in its first efforts to get nourishment. 
The change in the condition of the young animal at 
birth is like the change, were we to be heated in a 
Thomsonian steam box, for hours, and then, go out 
into the cold air, in almost a state of nudity, and re- 
main exposed to the cold. The young calf should be 
allowed to suck the hiestings — the first thick and yel- 
low milk that a cow yields, after calving, — as there are 
certain medicinal properties in that food, which has 
been especially prepared by natural means, for the 
peculiar requirements of the young animal. Whether 
a calf is to be reared by hand, or at the udder, it should 
always have an opportunity to suck the biestings. If 
a person desires to have a superior cow, she must be 
permitted to suckle her calf, for a few weeks, as she 
will be far more valuable, than if the young animal 
were not permitted to suck. (Read Abortion in Cows.) 

Some farmers will insist, that they can make better 



- ■ MANAGEMENT OF CALVES. 549 

cattle by bringing up their calves on hay tea, skimmed 
milk, or buttermilk pop, than to allow them to suck. 
Others affirm that if you have a cow that gives partic- 
ularly rich milk, and one that gives a quality poorer in 
butter, it is better, in every way, to feed the calf on the 
milk of the latter. If buttermilk and whey, or skimmed 
milk, were better to promote the growth of young 
calves, the Creator would have so ordered, that cows 
should give poor milk at first, and afterwards rich milk 
for butter and cheese. A person may raise good calves 
on skimmed milk and slops. But I never practiced 
that system' of management, as I could always produce 
far superior animals on rich milk. And if those per- 
sons who have reared fine animals by hand, had allowed 
the young calves to suck, they would have been far 
superior to what they were. During the first few 
weeks, a calf should be allowed to suck a liberal supply 
of milk. There is nothing gained by choking the 
young animal off, before it has taken a sufficient amount 
to meet the requirements of its nature. The growth 
of these early months is the substratum on which the 
whole edifice will be framed, and its future appearance 
and usefulness will, in a great measure, depend upon 
the care then taken of the animal. If a calf be hin- 
dered from obtaining its full allowance of proper nour- 
ishing food in its early growth, it will never develop 
into the size and form that it would on a full diet. 

If calves are reared altogether on hay tea, and skim 
milk, or other starvation diet, a person may be able 
to rear more calves on the same quantity of food. But 
when grown up, they will be like the Irishman's horse, 
that was hard to catch, and after he was caught, would 



550 todd's countky homes. 

be of small value. If a calf is to be fed, let it be 
taught to suck one's finger, as soon as it has been al- 
lowed to draw a partial supply from the dam, and 
gradually draw the hand and nose into a pail of new 
milk. If milk is presented cold, the calf will be apt to 
refuse it, as if led by instinct — as if knowing that na- 
ture always feeds her milk warm. Milk is the natural 
food, and if fed sweet — either fresh from the cow or 
skimmed — and warm, the young animal will thrive 
upon it — that alone. I have practised, with great sat- 
isfaction, rearing two calves on one cow. Sometimes, 
I found it necessary to tie the hind legs of the cow to- 
gether, for a few days, until she would allow another 
calf to suckle. It is an excellent practice to train a 
heifer to permit two calves to suckle. 

Comfortable Quaeters for Calves. — Young calves 
are frequently treated in the most inhuman manner, 
by tying them in some cold or wet corner, where they 
must lie down in their filth. My own practice has al- 
ways been to give every calf a dry and comfortable 
place to protect it from cold and storms. If the apart- 
ment were no larger than a small horse-stall, a door 
was made at the entrance, and the floor kept well- 
littered with clean bedding. I would never tie up a 
calf. It is a barbarous practice. If there be no stall, 
make a small shed in one corner of the yard, with 
boards, into which a calf may go at pleasure, and be 
shielded from cold and storms. Calves will not thrive 
in a wet, cold, and filthy place. They require also a 
little liberty. They should never be tied up. They 
will appreciate a dry and warm place, and improve the 
better for it. Let us remember that calves are flesh 



FODDER CUTTER. 



551 



and blood. It will be found a far more economical 
way to save money, by providing a shed and clean 
straw, than to maintain animal heat on milk. 

Weaning Calves. — The practice of separating a 
calf at once from the cow, is not only barbarous, but 
decidedly injurious to the young animal. My own 
practice always has been, to wean calves gradually, so 
that they will not fall away, in flesh. They were al- 




A HAND FODDER CUTTER. 



lowed to suck less and less, daily, after they were two 
months old, until we thought it safe to permit them to 
suck only once a day, for a week. Then, the next 
week, they were permitted to take not over two quarts 
once in two days. By this management, they did not 
receive such a deplorable " set-back," as calves usually 
do, when they are not weaned gradually. Calves 
should always have access to clean water, even before 
they are weaned. When fed milk, if meal be mingled 
with it, the meal should always be scalded and made 



552 



TODD S COUNTRY HOMES. 



into gruel, and fed warm with milk. Raw meal will 
usually give calves the scours, unless they eat it dry. 

Fodder Cutters. — Every person who keeps only 
one cow and a horse, or a few sheep, should have a 
hand fodder cutter, (see preceding page,) which will 
not require a master mechanic to put the knives in 
order. When one has a flock of sheep, or several other 
animals to feed, he should have a cutter, which may 
be driven by a two-horse-power, and be of sufiicient 
capacity to cut one ton per hour. 




Chopping Fodder by Horse-Power. — When I was 
feeding stock, my practice was to chop all my corn- 
stalks, a large quantity of straw, and much hay; and 
to mingle several kinds of feed before the meal was 
added. For the purpose of economizing the labor, all 
my machinery -was driven by a two-horse railway 
power, similar to the illustration herewith given. My 
horse-power was placed in the barn, so that without 
moving it, the self-cleaning thrashing-machine, as rep- 
resented in the illustration, the fodder-cutter and the 
portable grist-mill could each be worked by simply 



STOCK FROM HAY TO GRASS. 553 

changing the belt, without moving the power. By 
employing such a power, no driver was required, which 
was a great money-saving item. The fodder-cutter 
stood over a hole in the floor, so that two tons, after 
being cut, would drop into the feeding-room, without 
requiring an extra helper, while the machine was in 
motion. Besides this, the fodder-cutter was a self- 
feeder, similar to the one illustrated on a preceding 
page; and every appliance was arranged so conven- 
iently, that, without even the aid of a boy, I could 
chop one ton of fodder per hour. Indeed, I have often 
put a ton of dry corn-stalks through the cutter in 
thirty minutes. By having everything connected with 
the preparation of feed, as convenient as possible, the 
expense was greatly reduced, and money was saved in 
several ways. I always found it quite as economical 
to chop fodder — particularly corn-stalks and straw — 
for sheep, as for other stock. When a feeder desires 
to make feeding stock jKiy, he must not employ a gang 
of men, at high wages, to perform what I always did 
with perfect ease, without any helpers. An economical 
manager can seldom fail to save money when feeding 
any kind of stock. One important consideration must 
always be observed — to 

" Be systematic with your stock ; and do your chores by bell, or clock ; 
For cattle know the time of day, and are impatient of delay." 

rice's barn-yard lyrics. 

Stock from Hay to Grass. — That period which is 
termed "between hay and grass," is the most severe 
and trying time of all the year, for all kinds of stock. 
Indeed most animals experience much more incon- 
venience during this period, than they do in passing 
from grass to hay. The change from dry feed to green, 



554 todd's countet homes. 

when it is not very gradual, will exert an injurious in- 
fluence on all kinds of animals, and will often reduce 
them in flesh to a low condition. When animals sub- 
sist on any kind of feed, their bowels are required to 
accommodate their condition and energies to that kind 
of nourishment. Now, if feed of another kind, or in 
a very different condition be eaten, a change must 
occur in the system, and if the change in feed from 
dry to green be quite abrupt, an unusual looseness of 
the bowels will follow, and many times, a severe attack 
of scours will ensue. When animals have been kept 
entirely on dry feed, without any roots, they will al- 
ways experience more injury, in passing from hay to 
grass, than if they had been supplied with a few 
pounds of , roots daily. Those animals that are thin 
in flesh, are more liable to suffer injury from the change 
to green feed, than those in a good condition, or that 
are designed for early beef When animals of any 
kind are fed on roots, potatoes, or apples, during the 
foddering season, as they all should be, it will be com- 
paratively easy to change their feed from hay to grass, 
because, roots have supplied in part the place of grass. 
As soon as grass is large enough to pasture, or mow, no 
animal should be allowed to fill itself on grass, when it 
has been accustomed to subsist on dry feed. In order 
to avoid any injurious effects, let animals feed on 
grass only half an hour after they have consumed 
their regular allowance of meal and hay. By follow- 
ing this practice for a few days, their bowels will be- 
come accustomed to the change of feed, without caus- 
ing the scours. Working oxen, as well as horses, are 
very fond of grass in the spring. For this reason, 



FATTENING OLD COWS AND OXEN. 555 

they are sometimes allowed to make a meal on grass 
only, instead of meal. But, the effect is almost al- 
ways injmions. When taken into an empty stomach, 
grass will operate like a cathartic, thus unfitting a 
team for hard service. But, by allowing them to feed 
on grass after they have eaten their accustomed al- 
lowance of dry feed, grass will increase their flesh and 
strength. 

Fattening Old Cows and Oxen. — 

" Stock should be fed three times a day, but once with straw and twice with hay, 
And he who has more stock than hay, should sell a cow without delay." 

Eice's Barn-yard Lyrics. 

When old animals of any kind are to be fattened, a 
great deal of money may be saved by having the feed 
in the best possible condition, as old cows, old oxen, or 
old sheep can not concoct rough feed as when they 
were in the prime of life, and had better teeth an^ 
sharper digestive powers. Feeders frequently lose 
half their feed, when making beef and mutton of old 
animals, by feeding whole grain, and by not commenc- 
ing at the most advantageous period. The most flxvor- 
able period to begin to fatten old animals, is in the latter 
part of spring, or during the former part of summer. 
At that season of the year, everything is springing into 
new life. The nutritious grass, the warm and pleasant 
weather, the cheerful sunshine, and the cooling shade, 
all lend their influence in one harmonious combination, 
to revivify and promote the growth, not only of young 
and healthy animals, but those that have endured the 
pelting storms and pinching cold of many winters. At 
tha^ season of the year, they begin to improve in flesh, 
even if their allowance of food is not as abundant as 
it ought to be. The tender and nutritious grass im- 



556 todd's country homes. 

parts health and vigor to the animal system, and they 
commence secreting fat and flesh for future use. At 
such a time, farmers should be active in aiding the 
work of building up the animal system, which has been 
commenced with renewed energy, by keeping such ani- 
mals improving in flesh every day, until they are ready 
for the shambles. If they be allowed to stop improv- 
ing, the proprietor must sustain a loss, to a greater or 
less extent. In case an animal does not receive a full 
allowance of grass, it should be fed a few pounds of 
meal or oil-cake daily. A few pounds of meal fed at 
such a time, will increase the amount of fat and flesh, far 
beyond our highest expectations. Two to four quarts 
of oil-meal, mingled with a peck of wheat bran, will 
be a sufficient quantity for feeding a cow or ox, at one 
time. Although summer is a more favorable period to 
begin to fatten an old cow, old ox, or sheep, September 
is not a bad time. Old cows should be dried off" at 
once, as they will not fatten much while giving milk. 
Then while warm weather continues, a cow or a bul- 
lock should be fed twice daily with meal, in addition to 
grass and good hay. Sheep should receive not less 
than one pound each, daily, of Indian corn and oats, or 
barley. If ground into meal, it will be much better 
than to feed it whole. 

Young farmers — and sometimes old ones also, appear 
to be in doubt whether a farrow cow will or will not 
fatten as well, while she gives milk ; and many very 
intelligent men have continued to milk a farrow cow, 
until she was almost ready for the butcher, flattering 
themselves that the cow was just as fat as she would 
have been had she not been milked. But no theory 



FATTENING FAEEOW COWS. 557 

can be more absurd. No cow, or female of any kind 
of animal, can grow fat or jfleshy, while giving milk, 
one-half as fast as if she were not milked. When there 
is a good flow of milk, little or no fat will be secreted. 
And why ? Simply because all the nutrimept, in the 
food consumed which would form fat or flesh, goes into 
the milk-pail. Therefore, the sooner we discontinue to 
milk a farrow cow, the sooner she will be ready for the 
shambles, and the greater will be the amount of tallow 
and flesh in her carcass. If a farrow cow is in toler- 
ably good condition, in the winter, and the calculation 
is to make beef of her the next summer, or the next 
autumn, she may be milked all winter, provided she 
be well fed. But she should be " dried off"' before she 
is turned to grass. Then, by allowing such cows to feed 
on good grass during the summer, they will make fair 
beef early in autumn, b}^ feeding them only a few 
bushels of meal. But, if they be milked all summer 
we may expect less and tough beef, and but little tal- 
low. An old, raw-boned cow should not be milked at 
all, during the summer, if no feed other than that 
which the pasture affords is to be . given. Let farmers 
remember that if they gain ten dollars in butter and 
cheese, by milking a farrow cow during the summer, 
they will have ten dollars' worth less of beef and tal- 
low, than they would have had, if the cow had been 
" dried off"," a few months sooner. 

"When to Stop Feeding Fat Animals. — 

" To fodder stock is careful work ; so don't for this employ a clerk; 
He'll waste enough, before grass grows, to keep one cow through all the snows." 

Eice's Barn-yakd Lyuics. 

In conversation with men who have fattened mam- 
moth bullocks and swine, I have invariably heard them 



558 todd's countky homes. 

remark, that their feeding during the last year, was 
nearly a dead loss, as the animals did not increase in 
weight. After such animals had become well fattened 
there seemed to be a serious difficulty in maintaining a 
keen appetite. Of course, as soon as the system re- 
fuses to secrete any more fat, the energies are concen- 
trated to expel unnecessary and hurtful food. A farmer 
in Central New York, fed a large Durham bullock until 
the animal was five years old, and he ate with avidity 
and concocted what was eaten, in a satisfactory man- 
ner, up to that period, after which, the appetite became 
indifferent; "he would not feed well." The utmost 
boundary of limitation had been reached. Yet, as the 
proprietor persisted in feeding the bullock another 
year, he learned that all his anxiety, labor and feed, 
during that year were lost, as the animal was not so 
heavy at the end of the sixth year as at the close of 
the fifth. Besides this, nature made such a desperate 
effort to throw off the pernicious influence incident to 
a state of plethora, that the bullock manifested unmis- 
takable symptoms of gout, apoplexy and other com- 
plaints, which are sure to follow overfeeding, when the 
system does not require nourishment. Therefore, to 
save the valuable animal from farther depreciation, the 
proprietor hurried him off to the slaughter-house. 

These facts assure us that there is a period, during 
the fattening of domestic animals, beyond which it is 
not profitable to feed. That point does not appear in 
all animals, even of the same species, at any given age. 
When animals are well fattened, and they manifest 
little desire for food, the sooner they are slaughtered 
the less will be the loss in continuing the fattening proc- 



WHEN TO STOP FEEDING FAT CATTLE. 559 

ess. But, so long as the animal appears healthful and 
full of life, and will take his regular allowances of feed 
with a keen relish, the indications are reliable that the 
feeding may be continued longer with satisfactory 
profit. But in many instances the appetite is cloyed 
by an occasional overfeeding. As soon as a fattening 
animal has been overfed, a long period must elapse be- 
fore the appetite will again be sharp. This often oc- 
curs before an animal is half fattened. 

Throughout the vegetable kingdom, from the small- 
est flower to the mammoth denizens of the forest, and 
all through the animal kingdom, from the animalculae 
to the largest elephant, philosophers have ever discov- 
ered a beautiful law of limitation which maintains the 
perfect harmony that is apparent in every part of the 
universe of natural things. "Were it not for the opera- 
tion of this beautiful law, our horses would continue to 
grow until they would be of such huge proportions 
that they would be utterly worthless and a nuisance. 
And human beings would continue to expand, until the 
largest giant of the present day would appear like a 
pigmy by the side of the full-grown man. We can 
not have failed to witness the benevolent and advanta- 
geous operation of this law in rearing and fattening 
domestic animals. If a calf be fed for example, with reg- 
ularity and uniformity of food, until the animal has at- 
tained the Bize of a large bullock, he will take his feed 
with avidity, and secrete flesh and fat satisfactorily, 
until the utmost boundary of this law has been reached. 
Then, feeders must look wild for deterioration. After 
the system has become so full of fat within and with- 
out that the law of limitation forbids any further de- 



560 todd's countky homes. 

velopment, nature will begin to make an effort to re- 
lieve the animal system of injurious plethora. That is 
the practical point in breeding domestic animals, to 
stop feeding and hurry them away to the slaughter- 
house, as all feed and all effort beyond this point will 
be worse than lost, because it will be utterly impracti- 
cable to develop one single point of a beast, beyond the 
prescribed limit of this unalterable law. 

Removing Chaff from the Eyes of Animals. — 
When I was on the farm, it used to be a common oc- 
currence for a barley beard, or the chaff of oats to get 
into the eyes of cows and steers. And, before I learned 
how to remove such irritating substances, some animals 
would suffer extremely, as the chaff of oats would ad- 
here to the eyeball, like a piece of wet paper to a 
smooth floor. Moreover, such chaff could scarcely be 
seen, even when in full view, on the external part of 
an animal's eye. I well recollect, that a f^ivorite cow 
had an oaten chaff spread out nearly over the pupil of 
the eye ; and it was so transparent that the chaff could 
not be seen, until after the irritating substance had 
produced a little inflammation at its edges. Then it 
was discovered. By drawing one corner of a piece of 
thin silk over the end of one finger, thrusting it care- 
fully between the eyelids, against the ball of the eye, 
the chaff was readily brought out. The most absurd 
practice is, to blow grit and dirt into an eye, to remove 
other irritating svibstances, when the finger covered with 
silk, will cause no pain. The former expedient simply 
adds to the pain and inflammation, which already ex- 
ist, while the latter removes the prime cause of the 
difficulty, and insures a speedy recovery. 



general management of stock. 561 

General Management of Stock. — 

" Fix every time to feed all stock, at six and twelve and five o'clock ; 
Then, let desserts come in between, of roots and apples, neat and clean." 

Barn-yard Lyrics. 

The aim of every feeder should always be, not to 
see how many animals he can rear on a given amount 
of feed, but to change his feed into flesh and fat, in the 
most economical manner. Almost from the first stages 
of the animal's life many seem to consider more the sav- 
ing of food or of trouble, than the importance of having 
a first rate animal. Utterly forgetful are many of our 
farmers, that the great object to be aimed at is the pi^o- 
gressive improvement of the animal. The growth is a 
constant process, and every means should be taken to 
aid it in the healthiest way. That this cannot be done, 
is obvious enough, by lessening either the quality or 
quantity of its food, or by being careless as to the shel- 
ter provided for it and the healthy exercise which it is 
necessary it should have. Beginners should understand, 
that if an animal once "gets a stunt," or is let down in 
condition — as let down it assuredly will be, if food is 
sparingly given to it in its young days — ^^that such a con- 
dition will never be made up again ; of the certain paces 
in the race, so to speak, which are lost, a few may be 
regained, the whole never. Let it be taken as an 
axiom, in the art or science of feeding, that to gain 
the desired end, — the best animal that can possibly be 
developed from the one with which the feeder begins, — 
it is necessary to keep up a progressive improvement. 
The advantages of to-day retained are to be added to 
those of yesterday. All kinds of stock must be well 
fed, and properly protected from cold and storms. The 
old system of hardening and toughening young animals 

36 



562 todd's country homes. 

of all kinds is not the way to save money, but it is a 
sure way to lose it, as such management has the per- 
nicious effect of checking the natural development of 
young animals, and of weakening their constitutions. 
Let a farmer pursue this system towards young stock, 
for two or three generations, and it will ruin the best 
breed of animals in the country. The offspring after 
this time, will have lost all the quality, early maturity, 
and propensity to fatten which their ancestors pos- 
sessed, and it will require years of the greatest care to 
recover what is thus lost. We build the walls of a 
brick house, by adding more bricks and mortar, at any 
time. The frame and carcass of an animal must be 
developed in a similar manner. And yet, if the feed- 
ing is not regular, and the feed of a uniform character, 
the growing and fattening process will always be very 
unsatisfactory, whatever may be the kind of stock. 

" If one allows his stock to shrink, from want of shelter, food and drink, 
He pays a tax by loss of thrift, he can't evade by any shift." 

Rice's Barn-yard Lyrics. 

The Best kind of Food for Fattening Stock. — 
There is a vast difference in feed for producing flesh 
and fat. When animals are fed on food that contains 
a large percentage of water, it is necessary for them to 
consume large quantities, in order to avail themselves 
of a small amount of nourishment. When they are fed, 
solely on potatoes, turnips, or pumpkins, with a view 
to fati:en them, they must have all they will consume, 
at least three times a day, and even then, it will require 
a much longer time to fatten, than if they were supplied 
in part with meal of some kind, in connection with 
such bulky food. When fed on very nutritious food, 
with but little to distend their stomachs, they will de- 



THE BEST FOOD FOR FATTENING STOCK. 5G3 

voiir charcoal, bark, brush, rotten wood, and even ma- 
nure, in order that their stomachs may be properly 
distended. The proper distention of the stomach, is 
essential to perfect digestion. 

Now, in the common globe turnips, according to 
analysis, there are 1.35 pounds of flesh-forming matter, 
and 91.41 pounds of water in one hundred pouTlds. In 
rape-cake, the percentage of water is 10.68, and flesh- 
forming matter 29.53 in one hundred pounds. The 
flesh-forming matter in oil-cake is 27.28 pounds in one 
hundred, and but 12.44 pounds of water in one hun- 
dred. Therefore, it will be understood, that there is 
a greater amount of flesh-forming material in one hun- 
dred pounds of oil-cake than in almost any other food. 
But, if animals are fed on oil-meal without having; it 
mingled with a certain amount of bulk, the greatest 
effect will not be produced. Food that is too bulky is 
as objectionable as that which does not possess sufficient 
bulk. Pumpkins and turnips being more bulky than 
any other food that is used for fattening animals, and 
oil-cake possessing more flesh-forming matter, by judi- 
ciously mingUng the two substances, the process of fat- 
tening an animal will be accomplished in a much 
shorter period of time, than if the substances were fed 
separately. So with meal of Indian corn, and pump- 
kins, which are made use of extensively for fattening 
beef. If the pumpkins were mingled with corn-meal, 
or shorts, or both, instead of being fed separately, a given 
amount of each would produce more flesh than could 
possibly be made, were each kind fed separately. All 
kinds of feed would furnish a greater percentage of 
fat-forming and muscle-producing material, if it were 



564 todd's countky homes. 

steamed. But, farmers must first learn to till their land 
better, to cultivate larger crops, to produce better stock, 
to feed raw materials of all kinds in the most judicious 
and economical manner, aiid to perform every operation 
that is of a lower order, than cooking feed for stock, 
before they will know how to make it pay to soil their 
stock. A man must begin at the foundation of every 
business, before h^e can succeed in the higher branches 
of the same employment. Soiling stock, and steaming 
cattle feed, belong to a higher order of agriculture than 
can be found in this country, except on a few well cul- 
tivated farms, where the proprietor has commenced at 
the bottom of his profession, and has advanced up to 
that point, where he can make it pay to steam fodder, 
and thus save his money. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

REARING AND MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 

Common Denominations of Sheep — Selecting Rams — Choose the Best — 
Management of Ewes — Management of Lambs — How to Handle Sheep 
— Remedy for Dogs — How to Determine the Age of Sheep — Making 
Mutton — Washing and Shearing Sheep — Mutton the Best Meat — Win- 
ter Management — How to Tag Sheep. 

" Through all the brute creation, none as sheep, 
To lordly man, such ample tribute pay. 
For hira their downy vestures they resign ; 
For him and his, they spread the sumptuous feast." 

Dyer's Fleece. 

Common Denominations of Sheep. — 1. A ram, a 
tup (or buck) is an entire male, either old or young. 
2. A ewe is a female sheep over one year old. 3. A 
stag is a castrated ram. 4. A wether is a male sheep 
which was castrated when only a few months old. 5. 
A larrib is the young of sheep until weaned or one year 
old. In England, it is said that lambs cease to be 
lambs when they are eight months old ; and are then 
denominated tegs, or teggs, ewe tegs, and wether tegs. 
In this country, lambs are usually called tegs after they 
are weaned until the first fleece is taken off. But the 
correct acceptation of the term applies only to the 
young sheep in their second year. 6. When a ewe has 
ceased to yield milk, she is spoken of as a dry ewe. 
7. Ewes are designated also, as yearling ewes, two, three, 
or four year old ewes. 8. In the Old World, the ap- 



566 todd's country homes. 

pellation hog, or liogg is given to young sheep, during 
the period between the time of weaning, and the first 
shearing. Other authorities state that a hogg, or hog 
is a castrated sheep about one year old. 9. Shearlings 
are either male or female tegs after they have been 
sheared the first time, whether they are less, or more 
than a year old. 10. Yearlings are either rams, ewes, 
or wethers over one year, and less than two years old. 
After which they are spoken of as sheep, or as two year 
old wethers, or ewes. 11. A cosset is a lamb, or sheep 
reared by hand. Such animals are usually denominated 
2Mts until they are about one year old, when they are 
called cossets. 12. A flock is an indefinite number of 
sheep in one collection. We say a. flock of sheep; and 
a herd, not flock, of horses, neat cattle, and swine. In 
the Old World, there are several other denominations 
of sheep, which I shall not allude to. 
Selecting Stock Rams. — 

" Now, search his mouth ; and if a swarthy tongue 
Is underneath his humid palate hung, 
Eeject him, lest he darken all thy flock ; 
And, substitute another from thy stock." — Drtden's Virgil. 

It is always far more difficult to rear a ram possessing 
satisfactory excellence, than ewes. The first consider- 
ation in selecting a ram for either wool or mutton, 
should be constitution, which is generally indicated by 
the form. Low, round, deep, compact Merino sheep, 
full in the bosom, with short and thick necks and heads, 
and good sized bones, possess the best constitutions. 
The next point is fleece. It should have that combina- 
tion of length and thickness which indicates, or rather 
produces, the greatest weight. This last is never at- 
tained with the maximum of either these characteris- 



SELECTING STOCK RAMS. 567 

tics — excessively long wool always lacking thickness, 
and excessively thick wool always lacking length. As 
a general thing the ram should represent relatively the 
size of carcass which the breeder is seeking to attain, 
for, usually, the ram has much more to do in influencing 
the size of the posterity than has the ewe. But when 
the ram is either smaller or larger than his own ances- 
tors, he may frequently be trusted to give their size to 
his offspring, instead of his own. Of course, a man 
must first understand what kind of sheep he desires to 
rear. Then let him select a ram accordingly. If the 
object be the production of mutton sheep, or early 
lambs for the market, let a full blooded South Down, 
or Cotswold buck be crossed with thrifty ewes of a fair 
size. One can not expect satisfactory success, if he 
employs the services of a grade ram, as such rams will 
not transmit the desirable points of the breed, with 
satisfactory certainty. The correct way to secure the 
most satisfactory improvement in any kind of sheep is 
to save all the ram lambs, and allow them to come to 
maturity in one flock. Then, it will be seen distinctly, 
which one should be selected as the best breeder. As 
a general rule, nature aids the efforts of a judicious 
manager, by concentrating in an occasional individual, 
of every species, a larger proportion of those desira- 
ble points which it is the aim to develop in the progeny. 
Not more than one ram in fifty is really fit for getting 
such stock as it is desirable to rear. A lamb may ap- 
pear to be all that can be desired, and yet he may not 
develop satisfactorily. When a score or more of rams 
have been reared together, at the age of fifteen months, 
one will be able to determine which one nature has 



568 todd's country homes. 

designed as the progenitor of an improved flock. (Read 
the remarks under the head of Selecting the Best for 
Breeders.) The introduction of good rams not only 
gives good wool and plenty of it, but in a short time 
they will double or treble the value of the flocks, if 
proper attention be paid to selecting good ewes. 
Selecting the Best for Breeders. — 

" Who sell the best, and keep the worst, 
Their practice should be just reversed." 

Rice's Barn-tard Lyrics. 

No j)roducer of domestic animals can expect to see 
any satisfactory improvement in his stock, when he 
allows a butcher to take his best lambs for slaughter, 
or to select the best calves for veal. If there be any 
choice among lambs, the most promising should be 
kept for breeders. I am aware, that when a farmer is 
cramped for money, and a fair price is offered for a 
heifer that would make a superior milker, or for a fat 
lamb that would soon be an excellent breeder, the 
inducement is almost irresistible to sell the best. But 
such a practice is ruinous to a good flock. Let a mark 
be prut on the best ewe lambs for breeders, and let 
every purchaser understand that such lambs as are 
marked can not be bought for gold. Let this practice 
be adhered to, in an inflexible manner, for only a few 
years, and a judicious manager will perceive a satis- 
factory improvement in his stock. On the contrary, 
let the best be taken, and the poorest left for breeders, 
and a good manager will be induced to abandon stock 
raising in a few years. No sheep should be sold from 
the farm till they have come to full maturity. The 
selling of lambs to the butchers is ruinous to the flock 
— or letting butchers go in and take the best of the flock. 



keaking lambs by hand. 569 

Management of Yeaning Ewes. — 

" Thy care must now proceed, 
To teeming females and the promised seed." 

When the weather is pleasant, ewes will require but 
little care. But when cold storms prevail, such ewes 
as are liable to drop their lambs must be provided 
with dry and comfortable quarters, or they will loose 
their young. Every lamb lost may be computed at 
one to three dollars, or more, according to locality. 
If a person do not rear one hundred lambs from the 
same number of ewes, he can not be considered a 
judicious manager. When ewes are to drop their 
lambs in the winter, see that they have a dry shed, 
where a lamb can be dropped on dry straw. Ewes do 
not require a dose shed. They want to run out in 
the open air. More than this, ewes that are to yean 
in a few weeks, should not be compelled to take their 
chances among strong wethers. Up to the time of 
yeaning, ewes should be provided with a liberal supply 
of good feed. But, they should not be fed high with 
grain or meal. After they have dropped their young, 
let them have all the good hay, cut corn-stalks and 
bright straw they will eat, besides, a quart or more 
each, of turnips, carrots, or potatos, cut or crushed, so 
that they can readily manage the largest pieces in 
their mouths. Let each one have also, from a pint to 
a quart of some kind of meal, daily, sprinkled on wet 
fodder, after it has been cut. Ewes require water 
twice daily, as much as milch cows. 

Rearing Lambs by Hand. — 

" Little lambs lie quiet,' all the summer night. 
With their dear ewe mothers, warm and clean and white." 

When young ewes, which have been running with 



670 todd's country homes. 

the flock, have yeaned, they will frequently leave 
their young to perish, as they are frightened when 
alone, out of all maternal instinct for a young lamb, 
and will desert it without a thought for its safety. In 
all such instances, before the ewe can be secured in a 
stall, the young lamb will often be too far gone to be 
saved. Let such a lamb be taken at once into a warm 
room, where it can be fed a little warm milk. If it 
can stand, the better way is to hold its mouth near a 
cow's teat while a small stream is milked as the lamb 
swallows. As soon as a lamb is dropped, it wants a 
warm place and a little good milk. Young lambs at 
such a time are almost always overfed with cows' milk. 
A lamb has a very small stomach, which, of course, 
will contain not more than a tea-cup of milk. Watch 
a young lamb with its dam. vSee how frequently it 
sucks a little. When a lamb is to be reared by hand, 
the milk of a cow that has recently come in is better 
than the milk of a farrow cow. The milk should 
always be fed when blood warm, but not hot. Feed 
with a tea-spoon until the lamb will drink. Then, 
never allow it to drink more than a small tea-cupful 
at one time. It is always a good practice to sweeten 
the milk. I have frequently seen playful lambs, not 
over a week old, kick up and die in less than one short 
hour, simply because they were allowed to drink too 
much milk at one time. As soon as a lamb has learned 
to drink, the true way is, to feed it with the utmost 
regularity, only as much milk as it will drink with 
avidity. Let the allowance always be measured, and 
be fed warm — and never when cold. Permit a cosset 
to run out of doors when the weather is pleasant, and 



REVIVING A CHILLED LAMB. 571 

provide a clean and comfortable shed for it at night. 
After it is two weeks old, a little soft bread, well 
soaked, may be fed occasionally with the milk. 

Owning a Strange Lamb. — It frequently occurs 
that a large ewe loses her lamb, while another e-we 
suckles twins. My own practice in such instances has 
been to take one of the twins and the dam that had 
lost her lamb, put them in a close apartment, beyond 
the hearing of other sheep, tie the ewe by the head, 
allowing her as much liberty as a horse has, when tied 
in the stall, so that she can not butt the lamb. If she 
kicks, when the lamb attempts to suck, tie the two 
hind feet, with a strong cord, about five inches apart. 
Feed her well, treat her gently, give her water daily, 
and in a few days the lamb will forget its own mother, 
and will be fully adopted by the foster-dam. I have 
never known this to fail, even if a strange lamb were 
two or more weeks old. This is a more satisfactory 
way, than to fasten the skin of the dead lamb on the 
living one, to deceive the dam. 

Reviving a Chilled Lamb. — Many people wrap a 
chilled lamb in a cold cloth, and put the half dead ani- 
mal in a cold corner of the room, and wait for exhausted 
nature to revivify the tender thing. There was never 
a more stupid practice. A lamb in such a condition 
requires animal heat. The vital powers are too much 
exhausted to get up the desired temperature. My own 
practice with chilled lambs — although it has been my 
good fortune to have only a small number — was to put 
the lamb into a tub of very warm water, holding his 
head above the surface, while his limbs and body were 
rubbed with a cloth, until it could stand. Then, it was 



572 todd's countey homes. 

rubbed dry, wrapped in a warm cloth, taken to the 
ewe, allowed to suck the biestings, or first milk, then 
brought back and kept in a warm box near the fire, 
until it had gained sufficient strength to be returned to 
the dam in a comfortable stall. Every hour such a 
Iamb should be taken to the dam to suck. I have of- 
ten seen lambs revived in this manner, after they were 
so far gone that they could not peep. It requires a 
long time to warm a chilled lamb by wrapping it in a 
cloth and placing it on the floor near a stove, which is 
often the coldest place in a room. 
Weaning Laimbs. — 

" The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, 
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play ? " 

If lambs are to be slaughtered, of course they should 
not be weaned. Lambs should be weaned at about 
four months old — but this should depend somewhat 
upon the time of year, condition of the feed, etc. If 
weaned very early they can, if necessary, run longer 
with the ewes. Good feed should be in readiness for 
them when weaned. A lamb allowed to suck after the 
supply of milk becomes scanty, continues to depend 
upon it, and does not eat grass as well or grow as well. 
Let it be borne in mind that if sheep are allowed to 
fall away in flesh in autumn and winter, sheep hus- 
bandry will not be as profitable as it otherwise would. 
Ewes that rear lambs will almost always become thin 
in flesh, but not necessarily poor, while the young ones 
are at their side. But, in our cold climate, the lambs 
must be separated from their dam, that they may have 
ample time to recuperate on grass before cold weather. 
If ewes are brought into winter quarters poor, and 
kept poor, the profits arising from their wool and lambs 



WEANING LAMBS. 573 

next season, will be much curtailed by such manage- 
ment. That fiirmer who keeps his sheep, both young 
and old, improving m condition from year to year, and 
never suffers them to lose flesh, except when rearing 
their young, and who saves with care all the manure 
they make during the foddering season, and applies it 
to his soil, cannot fail to make raising sheep a profita- 
ble employment. The grand secret of success in rais- 
ing sheep — if there is any secret about it — consists in 
keeping the lambs improving in condition from year to 
year. Want of success in raising sheep is almost al- 
ways attributable to bad management, which usually 
begins with lambs in the months of autumn. 

After lambs are weaned, in September or October in 
our latitude, they are often allowed to grow poor. This 
is bad management, as it is always difficult to improve 
their condition until after the foddering season is over. 
Bran and shorts are admirable fall feed for tegs. If the 
bran is light, a few oats should be mingled with the 
bran. Although tegs should be fed well in the fell, 
they should not be pampered, especially with grain 
feed. If kept high in the fall, the feed can not be 
safely diminished in winter — indeed, it often becomes 
necessary to increase it to preserve their condition. 
Highly pampered tegs may go safely through the win- 
ter, especially in small numbers and with good accom- 
modations and management, and look finely, yield ex- . 
traordinar}^ fleeces, and gain a year in growth. Merino 
tegs highly pampered in winter are alwa3^s in danger 
of disease. Besides, where they go through safely, 
they will not always do as well after being turned out 
to grass. A sheep highly pampered through the first 



574 todd's country homes. 

year of its life, requires subsequent pampering, or else 
it is deficient in vigor and condition. The opposite 
extreme, starvation and neglect of young sheep, is 
more immediately fatal. If tegs are not properly fed 
in fall, and go into winter small in size or in low con- 
dition, it is exceedingly difficult, with the best care, to 
winter them without a heavy percentage of loss. 
Without proper care, especially if the winter is an un- 
favorable one for sheep, the loss will be so great, that 
sheep raising w411 be discouraging. But, no farmer 
should attempt to keep any kind of sheep^ without a 
supply of turnips and comfortable sheds. 

Both ewes and lambs will do better through the sum- 
mer and autumn, and come to the barn in better con- 
dition for winter, if they are separated early. This 
gives the ewes an opportunity to put on flesh and vigor 
while there is yet plenty of feed in the pastures. They 
get a start which helps them through any dry time 
later in the season, when feed is short. This is of 
very great importance, and its effect will be observed 
through the whole year in the improved condition of 
the ewe. She will feed better in the winter, be in 
better condition to breed and nurse a lamb next season, 
will have a heavier fleece, and will possess greater vigor 
to resist grubs, catarrh and other diseases, to which 
sheep are subject. It is a very severe tax on the consti- 
tution of the ewe to nurse a lamb in a hot, dry time, 
when feed is short. Many sheep that live through the 
trial, break down in the fall or early winter, or drag 
through a year or two of unprofitable life before they 
die in the pasture, are slaughtered for their pelts, or 
turned off for culls. Ewes that are large and strong and 



TEACHING LAMBS TO EAT OATS. 575 

in very good condition, having abundance of sweet feed 
throughout the whole season, will sometimes suckle their 
lambs all summer without apparent injury. If the ewes 
are turned off to pasture at once they w^ill be uneasy, and 
try to get out, and when in hearing of the lambs, will 
come to the barn if possible. Very peaceable sheep 
will frequently jump a good fence to respond to the 
calls of their lambs. Both ewes and lambs should be 
fed and watered while confined. This is the time to 
teach lambs to eat oats. Scatter a handful at a time in 
a trough. Give them a little bright hay in a rack they 
can not get into. At the end of two days all may be 
turned out. The lambs should be put in a pasture by 
themselves, where the feed is short, fine and sweet, or 
in a mowing. Place some troughs in the lot and give 
four quarts of oats a day, to fifty. After they have 
learned to eat wheat bran, tw^o quarts may be added to 
the oats. If not convenient to feed oats, four quarts 
of bran and one of corn-meal may be fed to them, or 
the bran alone if the feed is good. Buckwheat is very 
good. Oats are the best, however. As the grass fails 
and the weather becomes colder, the quantity of grain 
should be doubled. Always have one or more old, gen- 
tle sheep with a flock of tegs to aid in suppressing 
their timidity, and to teach them to eat grain and to 
follow the shepherd. When ewes are first taken off", 
they should be kept on bare pasturage, in order to dry 
up their milk ; but as soon as all danger from milk 
fevers or bad udders has passed away, the better they 
are kept, the more lambs will be the return the next 
season. • 

Docking Lambs. — The ordinary manner of docking 



576 todd's country homes. 

young lambs is a very unfarmer-like and rude way of 
performing such a common surgical operation. I 
allude to the practice of stretching out the tail while 
the lamb is standing on his feet, and cutting it off at 
one stroke of the knife, and throwing salt on the 
wound. The objections to this practice are : by stretch- 
ing out the tail, it is frequently cut so short that the 
hind end of the sheep will appear as if the tail had 
been cut off and the stump driven up. As soon as the 
tail is severed, the skin and flesh recoil, leaving the 
bone to extend beyond the skin, thus making it far 
more difficult to heal. There should always be left a 
sufficient length of the lamb's tail to protect the small 
portion of the body that is not covered with wool. 
The mode of docking lambs, which is superior to any 
other that I have ever seen practiced, is to saw off a 
log about one foot in diameter and two feet long, and 
place the lamb on its rump on one end of the log, one 
person holding the hind legs back close to its body 
while he holds the lamb. Now, with a sharp two-inch 
chisel, cut off the tail at one blow by using a mallet, or 
one hand for a driver instead of a mallet. If the chisel 
is sharp, the operation will be neatly done, and the 
skin and flesh will not recoil, leaving the end of the 
bone bare. As the wounds will sometimes bleed pro- 
fusely, sear . the end of the stump of the tail with a 
red-hot iron. This will not hurt a lamb half so much 
as it will be injured by excessive bleeding. Searing 
will stop the blood at once, and the wounds will heal 
much sooner than if not seared. A small fire can be 
made with a few chips near the sheep-pen, and the bar 
of iron kept in the fire when it is not in use. 



GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG SHEEP. 577 

A piece of tin or sheet-iron, about a foot square, 
should be held between the lamb and the hot iron, so 
that other parts of its body may not be burned when 
the animal struggles. Much care should be exercised 
in using the hot iron, not to burn the end of the tail 
but a little. An instantaneous touch of the hot iron 
will cauterize the blood-vessels sufficiently to stop the 
bleeding. After this, apply a small quantity of gas-tar 
to the cauterized part, to repel the flies, which would 
otherwise deposit their eggs in the wounds. 

General Management of Young Sheep. — Most of 
the sheep of our country which have been well bred, 
never arrive at their natural and profitable size for want 
of a sufficiency of proper care and food, when young 
and growing. A young animal should be kept steadily 
growing, until it shall arrive at its full size, or be fitted 
for market. This system of management will prove 
the most profitable course, and the sheep thus fed 
and reared, will give the best returns for their care 
and keep. A great many of our farmers stop just so 
far short of this profitable liberal feeding in the winter, 
that their sheep only live, but do not grow during a 
large part of the year, and thus, the food is nearly lost. 
Certainly the time is lost, and the young animal is 
turned to pasture in the spring, with no increase in 
size, and so much lighter, as the loss of its flesh daily, 
since the previous autumn, taken to sustain its life 
would indicate, and which should have been saved by 
a little more liberal and careful feeding. A large part 
of the sheep wintered have very little increase of wool 
from the fall until spring, and not. a few actually have 
more pounds of wool the first of December, than at 

37 



578 todd's country homes. 

shearing time. Sheep husbandry is peculiarly suited 
to careful, painstaking men, whose physical constitu- 
tions are ill-adapted to the rough-and-tumble life at- 
tendant upon teaming through our boisterous winters. 
It is also peculiarly suited to our rough, rocky, moun- 
tainous land in New England. But men who feel above 
little things, who can not condescend to constant watch- 
fulness, will do better to rear horned cattle. Sheep 
need to be carefully tended at the barn, during the 
winter. It is not every boy, or man either, who is fit 
to tend a flock of sheep. The practice of keeping 
sheep in a yard and throwing them a few forkfuls of 
hay, is not a profitable manner of feeding. 

A variety of feed, and a small amount of grain be- 
sides hay or straw, will be found a great assistance in 
enabling all kinds of stock to keep up a healthy growth 
or condition during winter, and it is poor economy to 
withhold it. A small allowance of roots, or ground 
feed, daily, will promote the appetite of all animals to 
consume more coarse fodder or hay, and receive the 
full benefit therefrom. Aside from the smaller profit 
returned by animals poorly fed, such feeding is a great 
drawback on the improvement of a farm. The manure 
from animals poorly fed contains much less fertilizing 
power, than that from those liberally fed. By such a 
penurious system of feeding, sheep husbandry will tend 
to still further impoverish the owner by lessening the 
producing capacity of the farm. On the best culti- 
vated farms, so high a value is placed on the manure 
from high fed stock, that fattening animals are kept at 
an apparent loss in the feeding often with the expecta- 
tion that the improvement of the farm, from using the 



GENEKAL MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG SHEEP. 579 

manure thus obtained, will more than compensate for 
what loss ensued from the feeding of the stock. 

Most farmers make calculations for a liberal per- 
centage of losses in the foddering season. This argues 
injudicious management. I never kept a flock of sheep 
over winter, which were not in a better condition in the 
spring than in late autumn. And I never lost a sheep 
in the winter or spring, except a thrifty one that was 
hooked to death by an ill-natured cow. It is a com- 
mon occurrence with farmers who trust their sheep 
with careless men or boys, to get only three pounds of 
wool per head, when with only a little more care and 
feed, every sheep would have yielded four pounds of 
wool. All sheep must have a dry and comfortable 
shed, and a liberal supply of food and water. Sheep 
will not thrive on air alone. And old sheep, as well 
as lambs, should have some grain and roots every day. 
Sheep will pay much better for the grain they eat, than 
the man who purchases it. No animal kept on the 
farm pays better than the sheep. Their rapid in- 
crease, with their fleece and meat will give a better 
return for what they consume, than any stock kept on 
a grain farm, when they are njanaged in a judicious 
manner. One ^reat cause of failure in sheep hus- 
bandry, is in letting sheep run on the pastures, long 
after herbage has done growing, and in the spring be- 
fore grass has started, when there is no tallow in the 
clover, and it is gnawed into the ground, so that the 
pasture will be poor during the greater part of the 
grazing season. 

It is sometimes an object to fatten sheep rapidly in 
summer, and also to fatten oiF old sheep which can not 



580 todd's countky homes. 

be readily fattened on pasture alone. In either case, 
good pasture, and the feeding of a moderate quantity 
of grain daily, will generally effect it very advanta- 
geously. One bushel of grain fed to sheep in summer, 
will make as much fat as three or four fed in ^'inter; 
hence they may be fattened off most rapidly, and with 
least expense, in summer and fall. 

The true way to Handle Sheep. — When sheep 
are seized by the wool, if they be soon slaughtered and 
flayed, the parts beneath the skin, where the wool 
pulled, will be all blood-shot. Every employee should 
be taught, when catching sheep, never to seize them by 
the wool on the back, as it hurts them exceedingly, and 
has, in some cases, been known to kill them, particu- 
larly in hot weather, if they are large and fat. Indeed, 
the best way is to avoid the wool altogether, and to 
accustom yourself to take them by the hind leg, or 
what is better, by the neck, placing one hand under 
the jaws, and the other at the back of the ears. Then, 
throw one arm around the animal down around the 
girth, and grasp the brisket, lift the sheep from the 
floor, and take hold of one hind leg. This manner of 
handling will not hurt a sheep. He who does not know 
that it injures a sheep to lift it by the wool, let some 
one seize him by the hair of the head, and jerk him 
around as sheep are frequently treated. By kind treat- 
ment and occasional salting, a man may have his sheep 
so tame that lie may play with them, as every man 
that has a heart will sometimes do with his dog. At any 
rate the feeling and thoughtful farmer, will never suffer 
his sheep, or anything else under his guardianship, to 
be unnecessarily terrified or otherwise ill-treated. 



DETERMINING THE AGE OF SHEEP. 581 

Remedy for Sheep-killing Dogs. — If there is any 
thing in the world that will tend to kindle a good man's 
wrath, and rouse his indignation to furious rage, it is 
the horrid spectacle of a score or more of choice and 
valuable sheep bleeding, dying, some dead, and others 
lacerated, bitten, mangled, and weltering in their own 
blood, destroyed by some worthless cur. Such a loss 
can not easily be retrieved. Dollars and cents are in- 
adequate to the true value of certain beautiful flocks, 
that have been bred and reared with exquisite skill 
and care. After a person has appropriated years of 
time, in which his best thoughts and skill have been 
exercised in developing a style of sheep that are really 
worth securing, to have the innocent and harmless 
animals, that we almost love, barbarously torn to pieces 
by some mean and idle dog that is a sublime nuisance 
in the neighborhood, is a misfortune which few men 
are able to meet with unruffled temper. 

A large cow-bell attached to the neck of a large dog, 
which would hang in silence when he trots, but which 
would rattle frightfully as soon as he runs, will effect- 
ually deter the most incorrigible sheep-killer from chas- 
ing sheep. Then, if bells were put on the necks of a 
goodly number of the flock, so as to give the alarm, a 
(5og would be frightened by the rattling of so many 
bells, and leave the innocent sheep unharmed. Dogs 
that are addicted to the vice of sheep-killing are des- 
picable cowards. Still, they are no ninnies. They 
know better then to kill sheep. They know that the 
sound of one or a number of bells would give the 
alarm, which might arrest their bloody design. 

Determining the age of Sheep. — The age must be 



582 todd's countky homes. 

determined by the appearance of the incisors or front 
teeth of the lower jaw. The only correct and reliable 
way of determining the age of young sheep is by their 
teeth. After the last teeth have appeared, so that " the 
mouth is full," it will be impossible to determine the 
age with reliable certainty. Like neat cattle, sheep 
have no incisor-teeth in the upper jaw. At two months 
old, all the incisors of the lower jaw have in most 
lambs appeared. These incisors are retained until the 
animal is twelve to sixteen months old, when they be- 
gin to be displaced, just as children shed their teeth, 
but not all at once. The two central incisors are dis- 
placed and renewed first by permanent ones, which 
will have attained their growth when the animal is two 
years old. If we look at the teeth of a sheep two 
years old, it will be seen that the two central incisors 
have usually attained their full size. The next year, 
one incisor on each side of the central pair will dis- 
place the first teeth, and will be pushed out even with 
the central ones. When the animal is between two 
and three years old, the next pair of incisors will be re- 
newed. After three years have elapsed, another set of 
incisors will have appeared. Between the ages of four 
and five, the mouth will be full of incisors. After a 
sheep is five years old, it will be found impracticable 
to determine whether the age is five, six, or seven, 
unless some of the incisors have begun to disappear. 
After the seventh or eighth year, some of the side in- 
cisors begin to show signs of decay, or to disappear 
entirely. If the teeth appear okl and decayed, and 
some are entirely gone, we can safely conclude that the 
animal is over eight years old. Judging of the age 



HOW TO MAKE MUTTON PROFITABLY. 583 

beyond this period will be found no more reliable than 
shrewd guessing. 

Feeding Sheep and Making Mutton. — 

" First, with assiduous care, from winter keep 
Well foddered in their stalls, thy tender sheep ; 
Then spread with straw, the bedding of thy fold, 
With fern beneath, to 'fend the bitter cold ; 
That free from gouts thou mayest preserve thy care, 
And clear from scabs produced by freezing air." 

Drtden's Virgil. 

In many parts of the Old World, and particularly 
in England, good mutton is the principal meat at the 
meat shops, just as beef is considered the better meat 
in our country. True, we, in America, produce no 
small amount of good mutton every season, but there 
are very few instances, indeed, comparatively, where a 
farmer has adopted anything like a regular system of 
producing mutton, which is followed up from year to 
year, as is the case with feeding neat cattle for the 
shambles. There are but few farmers who prefer to 
keep sheep and make mutton, to keeping neat cattle 
and producing beef While there is a satisfactory 
profit in feeding either kind of stock, when the busi- 
ness is conducted economically, and judiciously, there 
is more real profit in Consuming the j^roducts of the 
farm in producing mutton, than there is in making 
beef Some farmers contend that they could never 
have even tolerable success in feeding sheep, while 
they have found it profitable to make beef 

Why Making Mutton is not More Profitable. — 
There are the same difficulties attending the profitable- 
ness and WTiprofitableness of making mutton by feeding 
coarse grain and other products of the farm, that are 
met with in making beef. In either, or in both sys- 



584 todd's countey homes. 

terns, in order to render even a tolerable profit, an im- 
proved system of husbandry is indispensably necessary. 
Where the system of farm management is, and has 
been decidedly bad, or not by any means good — not 
progressive — where little attention has been paid to 
saving, most economically, all the manure that a farm 
affords, and applying it, at a proper time, and in a 
proper manner to the soil, it can not be expected that 
feeding either sheep or neat cattle will be attended 
with good profit; and so far as I have made observa- 
tions on this subject, on such farms, it has not been a 
paying business. A disregard for the manure which is 
or might be made while making mutton, is one of the 
first reasons why making mutton is not more profitable 
in America, than it is usually acknowledged to be. 
The manure that may be made while making mutton, 
beef or pork, is one of the great sources of profit, and 
as this is neglected, just in the same proportion w^ill 
there be a leakage in the ultimate profits of consuming 
the products of the farm, whether those products be 
consumed by sheep, neat cattle or swine. 

In England, where making mutton has been reduced 
to a more complete system than in America, those who 
have been most successful in this branch of farming, 
assure us of large appreciable profits from the manure 
alone. Were they, in England, to waste their manure, 
while feeding their stock, as it is wasted in this country, 
we should hear far more discouraging accounts of the 
unprofitableness of making mutton in Euroj^e, than we 
have ever heard of here. We may, with safety, record, 
that wasting the manure of those animals that are be- 
ing fed, is one of the chief sources of unprofitableness 



FEEDING SHEEP IN THE DAT-TIME. 585 

in feeding. Another very cogent reason why making 
mutton has not been attended with more profitable re- 
sults, is, the best breeds of sheep for making mutton, 
have not been secured. Still another reason is, those 
who have attempted to feed sheep, were inexperienced 
in that branch of agriculture — they lacked the requisite 
tact and shrewd management, so essential to success. The 
profit on the products of the farm, arising from making 
mutton, must be obtained largely from the increased 
crops, as a legitimate result of saving and applying the 
rich manure made by fattening sheep. That person 
who does not save the manure and apply it judiciously 
to his land, can not expect to make feeding sheep pay 
a satisfactory profit. 

Feeding Sheep in the Day-time. — 

" To fodder stock is careful work ; so don't for this employ a clerk. 
Let thine own hands supply the feed, that all may get just what they need." 

Barn -YARD Lyrics. 

Many a flock of sheep has gone to the shed supper- 
less and cold, where they have remained till morning, 
while their racks were filled with hay, simply because 
sheep don't like to be poking around in darkness, after 
their fodder. For this reason, every flock should re- 
ceive their last fodder, at least one hour before dark. 
My own practice always was to feed three times, with 
fodder daily; and with roots, or grain at noon. What- 
ever the feed was, the allowances were always given 
with as much regularity as my own meals were taken. 
And those periods of meal-time were as regular as the 
clock. Sheep like their feed regularly. 

There is one precaution to be observed in connection 
with regular feeding, where some judgment is needed. 
Animals eat more in sharp or frosty, than in damp and 



586 todd's country homes. 

warm weather. Hence, if the same amount by weight 
is given at every feeding, they will not have enough 
when the weather is cold, and will be surfeited when it 
is warm and. damp. Both of these evils must be 
avoided, while a little attention and observation will 
enable the farmer to do it. When any animal has been 
accustomed to be fed with acQuracy at the appointed 
period, it will not fret till that period arrives, after 
which it becomes very restless and uneasy till its food 
comes. If it has been fed irregularly, it will begin to 
fret when the earliest period arrives, after which it be- 
comes restless and uneasy till its food comes. Hence, 
this fretting may be entirely avoided, by strict punct- 
uality. The moment the animal begins to worry, it 
begins to lose its flesh. Consequently, when an animal 
must derive its sustenance from its own secretions, de- 
terioration will commence at once. 

Making Fancy Mutton. — I have frequently met 
with men from Canada, with small flocks of "fancy 
sheep," weighing from three to four hundred pounds 
each. The animals were so fat, that life really seemed 
to be a burden. Their shoulders and hind quarters 
swelled out with fat, as if some fatal disease had pro- 
duced a high inflammation throughout their entire 
bodies. They were said to be full-blooded Cotswolds, 
and were four years old. I asked the proprietor who 
seemed to be an intelligent farmer, "What has been 
your system of management with those sheep for devel- 
oping such large frames, covered with such thick fat?" 
His answer contained a volume in one small page. 
" There is no difficulty in making such mutton-sheep. 
I have more like them at home. I take a few like these 



PEAS AND BEANS FOR SHEEP. 587 

to market every year. In the first place, I secure a 
good breed. That is the most important point. The 
next thing is to keep them growing from the time they 
are weaned till they are taken to the slaughter-house, 
never allowing them to grow poor at any season of the 
year. I have fed them all the hay, peas, and oats they 
will eat. Peas are better than Indian corn, for making 
mutton. Oats furnish nitrogenous matter for the for- 
mation of necessary muscle. Peas produce more fat 
than the same number of pounds of cereal grain." 
"Do you feed any roots and straw ?" "Yes, each sheep 
gets not less than one or two pounds of turnips daily, 
with all the straw to eat and lie on that he wants, and 
a good shed is provided, with a supply of pure water, 
and salt to lick at pleasure." "How much do you ex- 
pect to get for the largest of your flock?" "Two 
hundred dollars per head, or I ship them from this 
market!" The next day I was told they were taken 
at that price for Christmas mutton. But I have seen 
so many bogus and tricky sales, that I did not believe 
he ever received such a price. Still, they were excel- 
lent sheep. 

Peas and Beans for Sheep. — There is no better 
food than beans and peas for sheep of any kind, and 
particularly for mutton sheep ; and this kind of feed 
will fatten sheep more rapidly than some other kinds ; 
and if fed to ewes, will yield a more bountiful flow of 
milk than feed consisting of whole or ground grain, 
and the choicest quality of hay, and cornstalks. 

Beans and peas are much better when ground into 
meal and mingled with other meal, or ground with the 
grain, than to feed them separately. If a person have 



588 todd's country homes. 

a portable farm mill, or is not obliged to haul his grain 
more than three or four miles to mill, for the purpose 
of having it ground, it will always pay well to have 
everything of the kind ground into meal before feed- 
ing. If most of the sheep be old, having poor teeth, 
it is more important that grain, peas and beans be 
ground, than if the sheep were all young and had good 
teeth. On the contrary, if sheep have good teeth, 
their feed may be distributed whole, although it is far 
better to soak grain in tepid water, at least twenty-four 
hours previous to feeding. Some of our best farmers 
feed equal quantities of Indian corn and peas or beans, 
when they are located at a distance from a mill, and 
they save the toll and expense of hauling back and 
forth, by steeping the feed, which is usually given 
about the middle of the day. Then, as soon as the tub 
containing the feed is emptied, a quantity sufficient for 
another day's feeding is put into the water. This proc- 
ess softens the grain, peas and beans, so that the sheep 
masticates the kernels more perfectly, thus rendering 
digestion more complete. 

Most sheep eat all such feed so rapidly that, unless 
the kernels have been rendered soft by soaking, a large 
proportion of it will be swallowed in a very coarse con- 
dition. Peas and beans being so smooth and slippery, 
when taken into the mouth, many are liable to be 
swallowed whole. And when grain or peas, or beans 
are taken into the stomach unbroken, they frequently 
pass off undigested, although the teeth of sheep grind 
so closely that but a limited quantity of whole grain 
or seed of any kind of plants, can be found in their 
droppings, while unbroken kernels are often discovered 



MUTTON THE BEST MEAT. 589 

in the fecal matter of horses and neat cattle. The best 
way to feed meal of peas and beans is, to mingle it with 
some kind of bran, and mix the meal with cut fodder. 
Large sheep that are being fattened, should receive 
about half a pound, to a pound, each at a feeding. 
Some large sheep will eat two pounds, daily, besides 
hay and straw. 

Mutton the Best Meat. — There is no better meat 
for farmers, or for any other class of citizens, than good 
mutton, unless we except poultry. Mutton costs but 
little, as the wool annually sheared from every sheep, 
richly pays for its keeping. Then there is the increase 
— an item of great importance. The increase is so 
much clear profit. From this increase, the farmer can 
get all his meat for the year, if he likes. Or he may 
save the lambs and take some of the older sheep in 
their places. The pelt of the sheep, if killed for mut- 
ton, is also saved and sold, which is worth in many 
instances, half as much as the sheep would sell for. 
Good mutton is also the most convenient meat to have 
on hand. In the warmest weather, a farmer can take 
care of one sheep after it is killed, without letting it 
spoil. With beef, this is not so easy. One hand can 
kill and dress a sheep in an hour. It takes but little 
time or trouble to kill a sheep, not near so much as to 
kill and dress a hog or beef For convenience and econ- 
omy, I say keep sheep and live largely upon mutton. 

I have said nothing about mutton as the healthiest 
food. This is admitted. It needs no arguments or 
facts to prove it. Let every farmer keep sheep. They 
are the most profitable stock on a farm. The hog's 
back only yields bristles, while the sheep's yields 



590 todd's country homes. 

downy wool. All that you feed to the hog is gone, 
unless you kill it; while the sheep will pay you for its 
keep with its fleece, yearly. Good lean mutton will 
supply far more material for the wasted muscles of a 
laborer, than twice as much fat pork. Mutton miist 
have age in order to be good. In this respect it is dif- 
ferent from beef Five years is the time held in 
Europe to be the best — an age which our wethers sel- 
dom attain. It is all lamb with us, and young mutton. 
We can taste of nothing better than well-matured sheep, 
in which case the muscle is tender and solid, and the 
succulent juices all in perfection. i 

. Washing Sheep. — 

"Wash sheep (for the better) where water doth run; 
And let them go cleanly, and dry in the sun; 
Then, shear them and spare not, at two days an end; 
The sooner, the bettei', his corps will amend." — Tussee. 

Why do we wash sheep ? Simply to have clean wool 
for market. In those sheep, the wool of which abounds 
in yolk, as the Merino, the shearing is much facilitated 
by washing, and in all kinds, the wool will be whiter, 
cleaner, and present a better appearance. But, when 
wool is not washed, the labor of shearing will be much 
more difficult, than if the wool had been washed. 
When wool is not washed, buyers will insist on de- 
ducting nearly one-third the price paid for washed 
wool. Therefore it will be more profitable to wash the 
sheep, and save money in the price of wool. 

One of the best ways to wash sheep, is to make a 
large vat of planks, and convey water from a dam in a 
board leader, so that a stream will fall two or three feet 
on the wool, as the sheep float in the vat brimful of 
water. A stream of water will knock out the dirt with 



SHEARING SHEEP. 591^ 

surprising rapidity. One person should catch the 
sheep and put them in the vat, while three or four are 
constantly soaking, before they are taken to the falling 
stream. If they have not been well tagged already, it 
should be done before washing, for the water will not 
remove the hard lumps of dung. The sheep must not 
be held by the wool, except about the head, for it pulls 
out very readily at this time. The washers hold the 
sheep under the falling water, squeezing the wool until 
the water runs away clear. During the time of wash- 
ing and the usual excitement of the rude scene, the 
flock are liable to abuse. From crowding in the pen, 
from injury by overdriving, or rude handling, serious 
losses occur, and sheep are not unfrequently found 
in the pen dead, or in a dying condition. They must 
be driven slowly from the washing to a clean pasture. 
The whole operation is exceedingly disagreeable to the 
sheep, increased almost uniformly by the roughness of 
the men, the best of whom seem to think it fine sport, 
and show no tenderness or humanity in their handling 
of the poor frightened beasts. Ewes are often handled 
so roughly, that they drop their lambs prematurely. 
When sheep are washed, the proprietor should be pres- 
ent to prevent all roughness on the part of those who 
handle them. Doubtless the sheep feel that dear life is 
in jeopardy. Hence they struggle desperately to get 
away from those who are liable to inflict injury. 
Shear^g Sheep. — 

" Reward not thy sheep, when ye take off his coat, 
With twitches and patches as broad as a groat; 
Let not such ungentleness happen to thine. 
Lest fly, with lier gentils, doth make it to pine." — Tusser. 

In order to be a good shearer, a man needs as much 



592 todd's countey homes. 

skill and practice, as are essential to make an expert 
barber. It is a great art to shear a sheep well, and 
can only be acquired by long experience. In order 
to shear a sheep well, one must first learn how to put 
his shears in order; then how to hold the sheep. It is 
of eminent importance to cut smoothly, and not to cut 
the wool two or three times in twain. After a sheep 
has been fleeced, the clippings may weigh quite as 
much as if they were attached to the fleece. But such 
portions will be a loss to manufacturers. When the 
fleeces are torn to pieces by unskillful handling or the 
floundering of the sheep, it is impossible to do them 
up neatly and show the wool to advantage. The chief 
difficulty in shearing sheep arises from their struggling. 
To prevent this, some tie their legs ; but this practice 
is quite objectionable, and no good shearer will adopt 
it. Sheep will kick and flounder but little, if they be 
managed gently and carefully. Every shearer should 
have a mattress of straw, at least five feet square, and 
so thick that his knees will not feel the floor while 
shearing a sheep. The object of the mattress is also 
to make it easier for the sheep. Laid on a hard floor, 
sheep will make desperate efforts to gain their natural 
position; and if jammed down violently on the floor, 
or boxed, or held uncomfortably beneath the knees, as 
they often are, by unskillful shearers, instead of keeping 
quiet, they Avill flounder and kick worse and worse. 
Placed on a mattress, their position is comparatively 
easy; and if handled gently, the fleeces will be torn 
but little. The sheep pen should be well littered with 
straw to prevent carrying much dirt on the shearing 
floor; and sheep always shear better if they are full 



HOW TO HOLD A SHEEP WHEN SHEARING. 593 

and round, than when empty. Even expert shearers 
are very liable to cut the skin of poor thin sheep. No 
man can shear a sheep well, unless he have good shears 
and keep them in good cutting order. 

The way to Hold a Sheep when Shearing. — 
Pass one arm around the animal, grasp the brisket, 
raise it from the floor, remove all litter from the feet, 
then with one hand, take hold of one hind leg above 
the gambrel joint, and place the sheep carefully on the 
mattress, in a sitting posture, resting against the shearer. 
Raise the forelegs putting them under the left arm, and 
shear the brisket and belly, dividing the wool in the 
middle, as it is sheared. Then elevate the head, and 
shear the under jaw, and a narrow strip along the un- 
der side of the neck to the brisket. Now, stand in front 
of the sheep, and begin at the foretop,and continue to 
shear from right to left, until the neck is sheared. 
Then, step behind the sheep, letting it lean against 
your knees, and shear the forelegs. Now, drop on one 
knee before the sheep, and let its body rest against 
your other leg, until you have sheared one side, and 
one hind leg. Then, change your position by resting 
on the other knee, while the position of the sheep is 
reversed, and shear the other side. Some shearers pre- 
fer to shear directly around the bodj- of the sheep, and 
finish at the tail. Both ways have their advocates 
among good shearers, and beginners may adopt the one 
that suits them best. Every shearer should have two 
pair of shears, one to cut the hard, gritty locks, and 
another for shearing the clean avooI. Some shearers 
can shear more advantageously and easily by having a 
a table about eighteen inches high covered with a mat- 

38 



594 todd's country homes. 

tress. Beginners should imitate the manipulations 
of expert shearers, and observe closely how they hold 
their sheep, and their shears. Never push the wool back, 
or take hold of it with the other hand while shearing, 
as you can not shear so evenly, and will be more lia- 
ble to cut the sheep. The shearer may often use one 
hand to advantage in crowding or drawing the skin in 
such a manner as to make a smooth surface where the 
shears are about to cut. Never allow an ill-natured 
shearer to jamb a sheep down on the floor, nor to strike 
it, nor to place his knees heavily on any part of the 
sheep's body, as such roughness only causes a greater 
uneasiness of the sheep. 

The Way to Hold Sheep-shears. — The best man- 
ner of holding sheep-shears, is with the thumb on 
the back of one blade. The shears should always be 
placed flat against the side of the sheep, so that the 
points and heels of the blades will cut equally close to 
the skin. It requires much more skill to put sheep- 
shears in order, than to use them, and without sharp 
shears, no man can shear a sheep in a workman-like 
manner. Another important consideration in sharpen- 
ing sheep-shears, is to grind the points of the blades 
pointed, but a little rounded and smooth, so that they 
will enter the w^ool readily, but will not prick the 
sheep, or scratch the skin as they are thrust forward. 
The grindstone should run very true, in order to grind 
shears well, and the cutting edge should be afterward 
whetted on an oil-stone of very fine grit. Shears 
should never be ground on the face. Always hold the 
blade to be ground firmly, so as tO grind the edges 
true. When the blades are ground on a stone of 



WINTER MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 595 

coarse grit, and are not held firmly, but allowed to rock 
back and forth, it will be impossible to grind them so 
that they will cut well. I have seen two dij0ferent 
kinds of machines for shearing sheep, which did oper- 
ate quite satisfactorily. One is worked by several 
small gear-wheels, and the other by compressed air. 
The cutting apparatus is guarded so perfectly, that it 
is hardly possible to cut the skin of any sheep. The 
cutters operate like the knives of a mowing-machine. 
Winter Management of Sheep. — 

" If one allows his sheep to shrink, from want of shelter, food or drink, 
He pays a tax by loss of thrift, he can't evade by any sliift." 

Rice's Bakn-tard Lyrics. 

In order to keep sheep in a thriving condition dur- 
ing the entire winter, there are a few general considera- 
tions which must be observed, else a portion of the 
flock will grow fat, while some of the sheep will run 
down, and before spring, die for want of proper atten- 
tion on the part of the shepherd. If a flock of one 
hundred sheep, or more, be composed of those of dif- 
ferent ages, and of unequal strength, the young and 
strong ones will grow fat, while the timid and weak, 
which will never rush, or crowd their way to the grain 
trough, or fodder rack, will not be in so good condition 
next spring, as when they came from the field, unless 
the flock were divided. If one have only six or twelve 
inferior sheep, the correct way is to separate the lambs 
and a few of the feeble sheep, and provide a separate 
inclosure, where they can receive extra attention. A 
great many farmers have old ewes that are on the de- 
cline of life, which would feed satisfactorily, for several 
years to come, raise a good lamb every season, and 
yield a fair fleece, provided they could have only a 



596 todd's countey homes. 

little extra care. Let such thin and feeble members 
of the flock be folded with the lambs, where they can 
get a few mouthfuls of grain daily, besides a liberal 
supply of prime hay, roots and straw, and they will 
grow fat all winter. Of course it is understood that 
such animals shall be provided with a comfortable shed 
to protect them from cold and driving storms of snow 
and rain, and clean litter of some kind to stand and 
lie on. Sheep will endure extreme cold weather with- 
out injury, provided they are kept dry above and be- 
neath. One of the most pernicious features in sheep 
husbandry is a leaky shed and a foul yard. Sheep 
are naturally clean and neat animals. They hate 
wet backs more than a cat is annoyed with wet feet. 
Besides this, wet fleeces in cold weather, will often 
operate as the prime cause of some unwelcome disease 
in the flock. Sheep like a variety of food. L. A. 
Morrell, in his American Shephe^'d, states that in an 
extensive experiment with domestic animals, to ascer- 
tain which were most fond of variety, sheep ate with 
avidity, a great many more plants than any other 
animal. 

When a farmer has straw, cornstalks and hay, the 
better system of management is to allow sheep, or any 
other stock, to have a portion of each kind of fodder, 
not only every day, but at every foddering. There is 
great economy in mingling various kinds of fodder, 
especially if the mass is to be cut into chaff and steamed 
before it is distributed to stock. It is an erroneous 
conclusion, cherished by many farmers, that animals 
may be maintained more satisfactorily on straw and 
grain, for a given time, and then on hay alone, or on 



TAGGING SHEEP. 597 

cornstalks only, for another certain length of time. 
A long experience in feeding sheep warrants the con- 
clusion, that it will always be better for the flock to 
feed them a variety of food daily. If they need grain, 
let it be fed so that every sheep may get a small quan- 
tity. Sheep should have roots also, of some kind, or 
apples, and water regularly, which they need quite as 
much as horses or horned cattle. When sheep are kept 
on dry feed, without roots and water, they can not 
thrive. Fattening sheej) should receive half a pound 
of oil-meal mingled with half a pound of corn, or peas, 
or bean meal, daily, besides roots. If a man has good 
straw, some cornstalks and roots, if the sheep have a 
clean and comfortable shed, they can be made fat be- 
fore spring without hay, although they should always 
have a small allowance of good hay. 

Sheep should be handled, upon every farm, in con- 
nection with the raising of grain crops. They occupy 
a place in the economy of the farm that no other ani- 
mal can fill so well, in consuming straw and cornstalks, 
and other refuse fodder. The facility with which the 
product of the flock is transported is a strong argu- 
ment in their favor. There is an old Spanish proverb 
to the eflect that " gold springs up where the foot of 
the sheep has trod." 

Tagging Sheep. — The practice of most men is to 
allow their sheep to go without tagging, until a certain 
time, usually just before the flock is turned out to 
grass. But my own practice, when sheep were kept 
on my farm was to tag them when they needed it 
most, whether it was in the middle of winter or sum- 
mer. At any period when it was apparent that a 



598 todd's country homes. 

sheep did not keep its wool clean, the animal was taken 
at once to the tagging bench. A pair of shears was 
always kept on hand, so that I could catch a sheep, 
when they were feeding, and in five minutes trim off 
the redundant portions. Ewes just before the tupping 
season, were always trimmed a little about the tail, and 
teeming breeders, a few weeks previous to yeaning, 
were relieved of the tags and rolls of wool round about 
the udders so that young lambs in their first efforts to 
suck, could readily find the teats. But such sheep 
should always be handled with extreme care, lest they 
cast their young, prematurely. The most convenient 
way to tag sheep, is to set the one to be tagged on a 
bench about two feet high covered with a straw mat. 
(See remarks under Shearing.) When a sheep is set on 
its buttock, imless the bones are covered with plenty 
of fat, a hard bench will be more uncomfortable to the 
animal than a granite pillow beneath the weary head 
of a shearer. When placed on a soft seat, they will 
not kick and struggle for dear life, as they will when 
their seat consists of the hard side of a hard plank. 



CHAPTER XY. 

REARING AND MANAGEMENT OF SWINE. 

Denominations of Swine — Value of Swine — Rules for Breeding — Cross- 
ing Large Breeds — Management of Brood Sows — The Piggery — Man- 
agement of Pigs — Portable Grain Mills — Grinding Grain for Swine — 
Advantage of Cooking Feed for Swine — Neat Habits of Swine — How 

to Fatten. 

Denominations of Swine. — 

" O, mucli abused and much despised beast ! 
Men slight thee most who know thy merits least ; 
Who would make light of thee, should try thee, first; 
Then with thy praise they'll iniev-lard their verse." — Milne. 

The different names which are apjjHed to swine in 
America, are the following, namely : hogs, which in- 
clude the whole species, both male and female, both 
old and young. The entire male is called a hoar, a 
brawn or seed hog ; and the female, a sow. After the 
young males have been castrated, they are called har- 
rows. Females that are to be kept for breeders, are 
called open sows, or young hreeders, until they have 
brought forth one litter of pigs, after which they are 
denominated brood, or breeding sows. The progeny 
of hogs is called />?^s, until they are weaned. The 
number brought forth at one parturition, is called a 
litter, or brood. After pigs are weaned, whether male 
or female, until they weigh from fifty to one hundred 
and fifty pounds, they are called shoies. Pigs are often, 
after being weaned, closely confined, and fed high with 



600 todd's country homes. 

milk and meal, until they are from two to six or eight 
months old, when they are slaughtered, and roasted 
whole, or disposed of as fresh pork. Such swine are 
caiiled porkei^s, or ^iorklings. But, in a restricted sense, 
a porker signifies a small and young shote. A spayed 
sow is called a cut sow. A castrated boar, two or three 
years old, is called a hrawner. Shotes and hogs of one 
or more years old, which are not being fatted, are called 
store hogs. Young sows and boars designed partic- 
ularly for raising pigs, are called stock hogs. The 
flesh of swine is usually called dressed pork, or pork. 
The hams, shoulders and joles, after being salted and 
smoked, are designated hacon^ although in a restricted 
sense, bacon consists of the remainder of the side of a 
dressed hog, after the ham and spare-rib have been 
removed. Swine receive the appellation of hogs from 
the flict that they go pushing, rooti7ig, and thrusting 
about Avith their snouts, all of which, in the language 
from which our word hog is derived, signifies, to hog. 
Hence, as swine in most of their movements, may be 
said to hog, they naturally receive the name of hogs. 
Sheep do 7iot play the hog. Hence, if swine were de- 
nominated sheep), and sheep were called swine, the ap- 
pellation of hog would have to be left out. Hence, 
also, the propriety of calling swine, hogs. 
The Great Value of Swine. — 

"On beef and mutton, Englislimen expand ; 
But, pork's the crowning glory of our land. 
You'll certainly allow — please don't forget — 
That swine went in with Noah, from the wet." — Edwards. 

What would our excellent cooks do for doughnut ma- 
terial, were the genus sus to step out ? What would 
supply the place of the sno\y-white lard for pie-crust ? 



THE GREAT VALUE OF SWINE. 601 

Would not the good old tune of pork and beans soon 
die away into a doleful requiem, if his majesty's swine- 
ship were annihilated? Let them answer, who have 
been accustomed to eat such meat as we make in the 
country, out of milk, corn meal, and the refuse of the 
kitchen. 

" I go with Paul — as every one supposes — 
As for the Jew — why, he may go to— Moses ! " 

The hog, in point of usefulness to mankind, can not 
be excelled by any other domesticated animal. Its 
great usefulness consists in its powers of sharp digestion. 
Unlike most other stock, the stomach of a hog can di- 
gest many kinds of food which other animals would 
eat at the hazard of their lives. Hogs will subsist on 
almost any kind of food, whether animal or vegetable. 
They will eat grass like the ox, flesh like a lion, mast 
like a squirrel, grain like poultry, fruit and vegetables 
like mankind, and will convert more of a given quan- 
tity of different kinds of food, into flesh and fat, than 
any other domestic animal. The offal of the slaugh- 
ter-house, the refuse of the brewery, the slops from the 
kitchen, are all readily converted into the most deli- 
cious food for mankind, by this useful animal. Still, 
when swine are improperly reared, and badly managed, 
as they often are at distilleries and slaughter-houses, I 
would as soon eat a cut out of the evil spirit himself, 
as such flesh — the awful abode of the triclmice. The 
flesh of such swine as I was accustomed to produce 
when in the country, is no more like the miserable pork 
that the market is supplied with, than the flesh of a 
thrifty steer is like the dry and insipid meat of an 
American buffalo. By proper breeding, and the right 
kind of feeding, the flesh of swine will be one of the 



602 todd's countky homes. 

most delicious kinds of animal food. When swine are 
reared on mast and roots, and the fattening process is 
finished at a slaughter-house, genuine Gentiles desire 
to become Jews, unless they can be supplied with bet- 
ter pork than such animals will make. 
Rules for Ceossing Swine. — 

"But, if the boar be faint and out of case, 
He will be copied, in his famished race." 

There are rules to be shunned, as well as rules to be 
adopted, in crossing different breeds of swine, in order 
to secure pigs of the most desirable form and symmetry. 
No man can expect, that a boar will be able to get pigs, 
that will possess excellencies superior to himself We 
do not propose to discuss this subject farther, than to 
lay down a few brief and practical rules, which every 
farmer may comprehend, without the exercise of very 
much thought, and which he may adopt, with the as- 
surance of good success. One very important, and 
fundamental rule will be, to always secure the services 
of di full-blooded hoar, if it is at all practicable. If the 
most prominent characteristics of a sow do not indicate 
a liberal infusion of the blood of any particular breed, 
if she be ordinarily good, and if she be coupled with a 
full-blooded boar, of some superior breed, the proprie- 
tor will need no better guaranty, that the pigs wdll be 
good. If the boar is not as he should be, a man can 
make no reliable calculations, as to certainty of suc- 
ceeding, except to a certain extent, any more than a 
man, who is blindfolded, could determine where he 
would come out, in crossing a large field, without a 
guide. In order to obtain pigs of a uniform quality, 
both the boar and the sow must be first-rate. If, for 
example, a full-blooded red Russian boar be coupled 



RULES FOR CROSSING SWINE. 603 

with a Berkshire sow, the product will be not inferior 
to any cross, or to the product of full-blooded swine, 
for fattening purposes. I have met with instances, in 
which, the cross between a red Russian boar, and a 
Berkshire sow, made more desirable hogs, than either 
the Berkshire or the Russian, alone. 

Young farmers must bear in mind, that a male, or 
female swine may be a superior animal, for breeding 
purposes, and at the same time, be inferior to some of 
his, or her progeny, for making pork, and, vice versa. 
Now, if an excellent sow receive a boar of no particu- 
lar breed, sometimes, his pigs may appear to be, what 
are often called, first-rate pigs. And, sometimes, sipart 
of them will be good, and, the remainder will be quite 
inferior to the rest of the litter, and, sometimes, there 
will be only one or two, that may be called good, while 
all the others will be of quite an inferior character. 
All of these considerations will depend, almost entirely, 
on the amount of pure blood, that the boar may pos- 
sess. I believe, that all good breeders agree, on this 
one point, that, in order to make any very desirable 
improvements, in any breed, we must not breed from 
grade animals. 

Again, we will suppose, for examjDle, that the dam 
of a sow was a grade animal, of good form and sym- 
metry, and, the boar a full-blooded Russian, or Berk- 
shire. The sow would bring forth a litter of pigs, that 
would have very few successful rivals, for fattening 
purposes. We can always count upon such a cross as 
this, with great certainty. Indeed, we could calculate, 
beforehand, with as much safety, on the result of such 
a cross, as if the desired product was already before us. 



604 todd's countky homes. 

Ceossing large Breeds with small oxes. — It is 
frequently desirable to produce swine of rather an in- 
termediate size, between a large breed and a small 
breed. Therefore, in order to be successful, it will be 
important to employ the services of a male of pure 
breed, that approximates the nearest to what may be 
desired. For example: some farmers think that the 
Berkshire breed, and the Suffolk are rather too small. 
In order, therefore, to produce a class of swine, having 
larger frames, and good flittening qualities, it will be 
necessary to couple a full-blooded Berkshire boar, with a 
sow of some larger breed, and, if the boar is right, his 
pigs will possess excellent fattening qualities. 

I have in my mind an instance, in point, at the present 
writing, which came under my own observation, in one 
of the counties of the State of New York, where the 
Red Russian breed was considered, by many farmers, to 
be superior to any other breed. Some did not like 
them, because they were too large, and, they did not 
like the Berkshire breed, because it was too small. 
But, the product of a full-blooded Berkshire boar, and 
a Red Russian sow would produce a breed, almost in- 
variably, that would suit almost every one, who desired 
to raise excellent swine for making pork. In case a 
farmer desires to produce large hogs, by procuring a 
full-blooded, Red Russian boar, and a large sow, which 
is the product of some good cross, he may produce a 
class of swine as large as would be desirable to fitten. 
For example : a sow that was got by a full-blooded Red 
Russian boar, coupled with a sow of the Chester White 
breed, would be an excellent brood sow, for producing 
larger hogs than herself. If a very large breed of 



HOW TO SELECT BREEDING SWINE. 605 

hogs were the great desideratum, then, let such a 
sow be coupled with a Red Russian boar. On the 
contrary, should it be desirable to produce a breed, 
having excellent fattening qualities, with a little more 
capacious carcasses than the full-blooded SufTolks, or 
Berkshires possess, employ the services of a Berkshire 
or Suffolk boar, and a small sow will bring forth the 
very style of pigs desired. 

How TO SELECT BREEDING SwiNE. 

" Ungelt of the best, save a couple, or more — 
A sow-pig, and boar-pig, that sucketh before." — Tom Tusser. 

It is a rare occurrence, that a sow produces a 
larger number of pigs than she has teats. Still, I have 
known very prolific sows to bring forth one or two 
more pigs, than there were teats for them to suckle. 
In one instance, the proprietor was curious to learn, 
what would be the residt in such an extraordinary case, 
and he reported that one of the pigs actually starved 
to death, after a few days. As soon as the pigs are a 
few days old, every one will suckle at the same teat, 
and at no other. And, if there is any superiority to be 
discovered between pigs of the same litter, it will be 
seen, that the best will always suckle at the forward teats. 
If there should be one or two inferior pigs, their appro- 
priate teats will be the farthest behind. There is, in 
almost every litter of pigs, one little pig, that will 
always be inferior to the rest of the litter. Such pigs 
should never be saved as breeders, whether male or fe- 
male. On the contrary, those that suck the forward 
teats, and only those, should be saved to breed from. 
Those that suck the middle teats may aj^pear quite 
equal to those that suck before. And, for fattening 
purposes, they may be fully equal to any other. But, 



606 todd's country homes. 

as breeders, they will not prove to be as prolific, 
neither will they transmit their excellent points to 
their progeny, with as much certainty, as will those 
that suck before. 

My own rule, in selecting a good breeding sow, al- 
ways was, to choose a sow-pig that sucked one of the 
forward teats, and whose dam has shown herself to be 
a good and gentle nurse, and was very prolific. A sow- 
pig thus selected would never fail to be a very profita- 
ble breeder, provided she was coupled with a boar of 
the right stamp. A sow-pig may possess all the exter- 
nal marks of a very choice breeder; but, if she were de- 
ficient in this one respect — in prolificacy — she would 
be an unprofitable animal to keep as a breeder. I have 
owned sows, that w^ould bring forth only two, and three 
pigs at one litter. But, such sows were always fat- 
tened without delay. And, I have had those that 
would drop twelve or thirteen nice pigs, at one litter, 
and raise them all. Such sows are the kind to keep 
for breeders, in preference to those, that bring forth 
only from four to eight pigs at one litter. 

My father, when I was a boy, owned a noble sow, 
that brought forth twelve pigs in the month of January, 
thirteen more in the following June, and twelve more in 
the succeeding December, making in the aggregate, 
thirty-seven nice pigs produced by one sow in one year. 
Breeding high, feeding high, breeding in and in, and 
aiming always to produce swine of a beautiful form 
and symmetry, as is the practice of many men, who rear 
choice animals for sale only, and who neglect to pay 
proper attention to prolificacy, has produced swine of 
beautiful forms, but by no means the most profitable, 



SELECTING PROFITABLE BREEDS. ' 607 

because they were deficient in one important requisite 
— prolificacy. A sow may just as well raise ten or 
twelve pigs, as to raise three or fi)ur. Her first cost 
will be no greater, and all the care of feeding and pro- 
tection, will be no more, except that a little more feed 
will be required, when there is a larger number of pigs, 
after they have become a few weeks old. Considering 
the aptitude of some kinds of swine to fatten on a 
small quantity of food, while other kinds continue ema- 
ciated and lean, it is important that a breed be selected 
from which the greatest profit will accrue. And as the 
best of hogs, at the present day, can be obtained about 
as readily as an inferior breed, if a man fats but one 
pig annually, he will find his pecuniary interest much 
enhanced, by selecting the best, especially for breed- 
ers. But do not breed from a grade boar, lest deterio- 
ration follow. 

Cross Breeds better than Pure Breeds. — So far 
as my observations have extended, those hogs that 
have been produced by a cross between some good 
breeds, have always made the best and most profitable 
swine for fattening.. And I think it will be found true, 
that all the unusually heavy hogs of our country were 
not animals of any particular breed — but a cross. 
Whenever I have met with heavy hogs, or have read 
accounts of swine that have attained an unusually 
great weight, I have always learned that they belonged 
to such a breed of swine, but that they possessed a 
liberal infusion of soyne other breed. I think, if any 
one will take the trouble to refer to the back volumes 
of the agricultural papers of our country, he will find, 
in connection with the weight of heavy swine, that 



608 TODD's COUJiTEY HOMES. 

the breed will be stated to have been, for the most 
part, Berkshire, Red Russian, Chester White, or some 
other breed crossed with a grade sow. But the great 
excellence of a cross breed will depend entirely on the 
character and quality of the two animals, through 
which the cross is to be produced. The same rules 
will hold good in the breeding of swine, that must be 
observed in crossing, successfully, any other domestic 
animals. For example : if one should cross a sow that 
possessed a limited infusion of the Berkshire blood, 
with a boar whose sire and grandsire had descended 
from a boar of some breed, coupled with a sow that 
did not belong to any particular breed, no one could 
expect to obtain excellent stock. Indeed, the prod- 
uct of such animals — such a dam and such a sire — 
would be swine of a very inferior quality. Still, they 
would be called good, or "fust rate," by many farmers. 
The largest proportion of the swine of our country 
possess no more of the distinguishing characteristics of 
a given breed than those just alluded to, simply because 
they were got by a grade boar. The product of the 
first cross is usually better than the second. A second 
or third crossing may be conducted so as to secure a 
better product than the first cross. But, as farmers 
usually manage, the^rs^ cross, almost always produces 
much better swine than they obtain by any other cross. 
And the»reason for it is very obvious. The product of 
the first cross is very good. Therefore, they select a 
male from the litter that was produced by a first rate 
animal, and expect that he Avill get about as good pigs 
as his full-blooded sire got. Consequently, here they 
meet with deterioration instead of improvement. 



BREEDING FROM YOUNG SOWS. 609 

Any good breed of swine, may be perpetuated indefi- 
nitely by annually selecting a boar as far removed in re- 
lationship from the female as practicable, yet of the 
same breed, and of pure blood. That farmer who goes a 
long distance yearly for his boar, will find himself richly 
remunerated, and will have the pleasure of taking to 
market an even uniform lot of heavy porkers annually ; 
while the man who uses a boar from his own, or a near 
related herd, will see the effect in light weights, en- 
feebled constitutions and in very unsatisfactory swine, 
in almost every im23ortant requisite. Judicious selec- 
tion is the only means of improvement which farmers 
can safely rely upon, while a failure to select, and 
breeding indiscriminately, will surely deteriorate any 
breed in a short time. If in the sow selected there 
are many good points, and one defect, see that the 
boar has not that one defect, but that he has a good 
development of that particular point. When both 
parents have the same defect, it will be sure to exist 
in the offspring, as all of these qualities are transmissi- 
ble by hereditary descent. 

Breeding from Young Sows. — No sow should be 
allowed to breed, until she has attained nearly her 
full growth, as animals that are full grown, will pro- 
duce the largest, strongest and best pigs. Successively 
breeding from young sows for several generations, tends 
to lessen the size and to weaken the vitality of the 
pigs. Sows that are good breeders can be profitably 
kept for four or five years. And if such sows are kept 
exclusively for breeding, it will not be necessary to 
change the boar, as would be necessary, if different 
sows were kept for breeders. No sow should be allowed 

39 



610 todd's country homes. 

to farrow, before she is one year old. And, even at 
that age, if she has not attained to a desirable growth, 
she should not be allowed to breed. To allow any fe- 
male to breed while her own frame is developing, tends 
to injurious results. It is like burning a candle at both 
ends at once. An old sow, like an old cow, will give 
more milk than a young one. Hence, an old sow will 
have larger and better pigs than a young one, because 
they get a bounteous supply of that which is most nat- 
ural to them, to w^it : the milk of their dam. 
Peepaeation foe Faeeowing. — 

" Sows ready to farrow, this time of the year, 
Are for to be made of, and counted full dear ; 
For now, is the loss of the brood of a sow, 
More great than the loss of two calves of a cow." — Tom Tcsser 

The period of gestation is about sixteen weeks. At 
least four weeks previous to the expected time of far- 
rowing, a sow should be provided with a separate en- 
closure, where she will not be liable to be disturbed, or 
worried by any other animals ; and where she can have 
a neat, dry, and comfortable apartment for her brood. A 
brood sow should always have daily access to the ground. 
If she can be allowed no more than the advantage of 
an enclosure a rod square, let her have the benefit of 
it. It will be hazardous to keep a sow in a close pen. 
A sow should be permitted to get a little grass daily, 
or to receive a little green hay cut fine. A brood sow, 
as she approaches the farrowing period, will provide a 
bed for her young brood, when her proprietor has neg- 
lected to do so for her. She will be seen carrying grass, 
and locks of straw to her bed, so as to have the mate- 
rial fine and soft for the young pigs. A judicious man- 
ager will anticipate her requirements, by providing a 



MANAGEMENT AFTER FARROWING. 611 

secluded nook, littered with a few bushels of cut straw 
spread on the floor, near the middle of her sleeping 
apartment. If long straw be provided, the dam will 
frequently gather it up into <a heap, make a large hol- 
low in the bed, in which young pigs are liable to be 
crushed. But, if the floor is littered with cut straw, 
pigs will not be caught beneath her, when the sow 
throws herself down. Cut straw scattered over the 
floor will be a more satisfactory security against crush- 
ing young pigs, than shelving around the apartment, 
ten inches from the floor, beneath which young pigs 
can be protected. If a sow has a large apartment, one 
corner, say about seven feet square, should be boarded 
up, leaving only a narrow door-way for her to enter, at 
the back side. The boarding will prevent the cold 
wind from whirling around in the corner. I once knew 
a sow to remove her bedding from what was supposed 
to be the most comfortable corner of a large pen, to the 
middle of the apartment, simply because the cold wind 
whirled around near that corner, rendering the place 
more uncomfortable than any other part of the en- 
closure. 

Management After Farrowing. — 

" The trudging sow leads forth her numerous young, 
Playful and clean and white, the trees among." — Bloomfield. 

During the first six or eight days after a sow has 
littered, she should be fed with great regularity, both 
as to time, and quantity, and quality of feed. Indian 
corn in the ear, is very improper feed for a sow that 
has just come in, because, it will be hard to digest, 
will be a long time digesting, and much of it will not 
digest at all ; because her digestive energies, at such 
times, are not strong. All such rough and hard feed 



612 todd's countky homes. 

will tend to produce fever in 'the stomach, and thus 
diminish the flow of milk. The best food for a sow at 
such a time, will be cooked meal, bran and vegetables, 
all fed in a liquid condition. I would never feed a 
sow, that had young pigs, an ear of corn, raw apples, 
raw potatoes, or uncooked meal, for more than a month 
after parturition. Every kind of food was cooked. 
And, I always found that it paid well to cook the meal 
and swill and feed it warm. For the morning meal, a 
pint of wheat bran, a pint of meal, consisting of equal 
quantities of oats and Indian corn, ground fine, were 
put into a swill-pail, with about two quarts of boiling 
water turned on it, and well stirred up, to which a tea- 
spoonful of salt, a couple of boiled apples, or potatoes, 
were added, and mashed up fine. As soon as the feed 
had cooled to about blood-heat, about a quart of dish- 
water, and a quart of skimmed milk were added. This 
quantity makes a little more than one gallon of ex- 
cellent light food, which would be rather too much for 
a small sow, and not enough for a large, healthy, and 
hungry sow. Such light food will keep the bowels in 
a healthy condition • will digest easily and quickly ; 
and will increase the flow of milk. The same kind of 
food was prepared at noon, and at evening also. It 
was always necessary to exercise judgment, as to the 
propriety of increasing the amount of food. It should 
be kept in mind, that a sow can not yield a liberal 
supply of milk for a large litter of pigs, out of a pail- 
ful of dish-water. She must have food that will digest 
readily and make milk. A sow's food should be very 
bulky, and always in a liquid state, in order to produce 
more milk, as well as to keep her bowels in a healthy 



FOOD FOR SOWS. 613 

state, and prevent fever. Wheat flour or bran, min- 
gled with the other food, is excellent to keep sows in a 
healthy condition, as it is very bulky, and will be 
easily digested. Pea-meal is superior to any other 
meal for making milk. When a sow can subsist on 
such food, her brood will grow "like pigs in the clover." 
If the weather is not freezing cold, a wet sow should 
always have access to a yard, where she can come to the 
ground. And, if she can get no grass, she should be 
fed daily, a little bright clover-hay cut fine. And an- 
other thing of importance is, a sow needs a spacious 
yard to roam and to recreate in, as it is better for her 
to leave her pigs, for an hour, or so, than to be with 
them continually. During cold weather, let them have 
an abundance of dry and clean straw in their sleeping 
apartment, as the little pigs like to have enough to 
cover themselves with, as well as to lie on. And, if 
young pigs do not have enough to eat in cold weather, 
and straw enough to keep them warm, they will, most 
assuredly, become stunted. And, I would sooner pay 
five dollars for a shote, that had never been stunted, 
than to attempt to fatten one that had been stunted, 
which would cost nothing. 

Sows Devouring their Pigs. — It is a common oc- 
currence for sows to devour a part of their young, as 
soon as they are dropped. But in all my experience 
in rearing pigs, not a pig was ever devoured by one of 
my sows. It is unnatural for a sow to do so. And 
sows will never eat their pigs, unless they have been 
managed very improperly. If supplied with light and 
bulky feed, and managed as I have indicated, a sow will 
not be feverish, at the time of farrowing. Injudicious 



614 todd's countky homes. 

management, and improper feed, such as dry and hard 
corn, raw potatoes, frozen swill and close confinement, 
will superinduce more or less fever. Then, look out for 
devoured pigs. It is not because a sow wants flesh that 
she eats her own pigs. -But, it is because her system 
has not been supplied with the right kind of feed. 
Brood sows are frequently managed so badly, that they 
suffer seriously from indigestion. When one must feed 
w^hole grain, boiled oats will be found the very best 
kind of unground grain for sows. We often read of 
soap-suds, whiskey, sulphur and a variety of other hurt- 
ful nostrums for brood sows. Let them be supplied 
with the right kind of food, and they will not touch 
such miserable stuff, even when they have access to it. 
Slack farmers, who are ever complaining of the losses 
of animals, are often too careless and indifferent to the 
wants of their teeming females at this critical period. 
In want of proper food and water, of comfortable 
shelter and places of rest, worried by dogs and more 
cruel men and boys, it is no wonder that disease, abor- 
tions and weakened vitality of the race are among the 
resulting consequences of such treatment. 

Management of Pigs. — If sucking pigs look thin 
and poor, it is a certain evidence that they do not get 
a liberal supply of milk. The remedy is to feed the 
dam a larger quantity of light, milk-producing, warm 
swill. If young pigs get all the milk they need, they 
will grow like asparagus, and their bodies will be as 
plump and round as a woodchuck. If the weather be 
cold and stormy, see that the brood do not suffer for 
w^ant of a clean and dry bed. A few cents' worth of hay 
or straw will often save as many dollars in the value of 



MAN^AGEMENT OF PIGS. 615 

a litter of pigs. But, in warm weather, as soon as the 
pigs are old enough to follow the mother, the sow 
should be turned in a pasture of fresh grass, and the 
feeding-trough should be so made that the pigs may 
eat with the sow, which they soon learn to do. This 
relieves the sow, and the pigs will improve about as 
.satisfactorily as if the sow were fed very high. There 
is no food equal to milk for pigs. And, if a farmer has 
not the refuse milk of several cows, he should not at- 
tempt to rear many pigs. Boiled oats will be found 
one of the most excellent kinds of feed for young pigs, 
both before they are weaned and after they have been 
entirely separated from the sow. As soon as young- 
pigs have learned to eat milk, a low trough should be 
provided, so that they can enter an apartment where 
the sow can not come, when they are eating their milk. 
J^y making such provision for young pigs, they will 
grow faster than if suckled. The sow can be fed less 
feed daily, to facilitate drying up her milk ; the pigs 
■\s'ill be weaned gradually ; the energies of a good sow 
will be protected ; and the entire system of management 
will be so judicious that neither sow nor pigs will suffer 
any inconvenience, while the pigs are being Aveaned, 
and while the dam's milk is drying up. When pigs 
are managed as I have indicated, they should be weaned 
from the sow at from seven to ten weeks — eiorht weeks 

o 

i.s the usual time. The condition of the sow and num- 
ber of pigs should have consideration in determining 
the time. But, when young pigs are removed at once 
from a bountiful supply of rich milk, they often suffer 
extremely from the change. When weaned, they should 
]je separated from the larger hogs, have free access to 



616 todb's countky homes. 

clover or other fresh grass, and have milk, dairy slop, 
and bran or coarse meal, and some vegetables. Shotes 
should not be allowed to get too fat, as it will injure 
their growth and form. Shotes should be supplied 
with such feed as will develop and build up symmet- 
rical frames and muscles; after which, the fattening 
process should commence. One -pig is often separated 
from the sow, when about four weeks' old, which is quite 
too soon, unless the pigs have learned to eat boiled oats, 
and to drink milk. When one has several sows, it is 
unwise policy to allow several litters to run together, 
especially if they are of different ages, as they will 
soon make common stock of the sustenance from the 
sows, and the larger pigs will drive the smaller ones 
away, which will be compelled to stand, like defeated 
politicians, and see the coveted pabulum absorbed by 
their successful rivals, while there is no available re- 
dress. 

The Piggery. — 

" A sty for a boar, a cote for thy hog, 
A roost for the fowls, and a kennel for dog." — Tusser. 

Every person, who is able to keep only one or two 
hogs, should have a well constructed piggery. Hogs 
like a w^arm, dry place to sleep in, as well as the hu- 
man species, and they dislike a w^et, dirty bed, more 
than a cat hates a wet floor. Confining hogs, where 
they are obliged to lie on the cold, damp floor or ground, 
under a leaky roof, or no roof at all, save "heaven's 
broad canopy," is the worst kind of porcine economy. 
If hogs will thrive and fatten when treated thus, surely 
with a good sty, and warm, dry bed, they will thrive 
much faster. The piggery should be constructed with 
reference to convenience, and the wants of the hogs. 



HOW TO MAKE BOOKS FOR A PIGGERY. 617 

There should be a feed-room for storing and cookins" 
food, etc., and the hogs should have an apartment for 
eating, another for sleeping, and a yard out of doors, 
with an appropriate corner for a jakes. The whole 
should be made tight and warm, with windows open- 
ing at the top, for ventilating. The sleeping apart- 
ment should have a woode^i floor, but where the hog-s 
feed, it may be either stone or wood. A partition, not 
less than two feet high, should be made between the 
feeding apartment, and the place where they sleep. 
The object of a low partition between these two apart- 
ments, is, to keep their bed in the desired place, to se- 
cure good ventilation, and to have it convenient, so 
that a man can step over the partition, into the feed- 
ing apartment. In case the pen is spacious, and a 
breeding sow were to farrow in cold weather, the sleep- 
ing apartment should be boarded up so closely, that 
currents of cold air will not whirl around in the cor- 
ner, more than in some other part of the pen. 

How TO MAKE Doors for a Piggery. — The out- 
side door, through which swine enter, should be hung 
so as to close after them, of itself, both when they go 
in and when they come out. This will prevent cold 
winds, and snow, from blowing into the apartment. 
There are two ways to make a self-closing door for a 
piggery, one of which, is to hang it at the top, with 
hinges that will allow it to play both ways. The swine 
will soon learn to run under a door hung in this man- 
ner. Another way to hang such doors, is to lean the 
side-post, or stud, to which the door is hung, about one 
inch toward the door-way. Then, hang it with hook- 
and-eye hinges, so that it will open, right and left, each 



618 todd's country homes. 

way. This little inclination of the side-post, from a 
perpendicular line, will cause the door to close, slowly, 
whether it is opened inwards, or outwards. If the side 
post, on which the door is hung, should lean a little 
away from the door-way, the door will always swing 
open, instead of shut, of its own accord. Such a door 
should be made of heavy plank, so that the wind will 
not blow it open. It will be better to hang the door 
with hinges on the side, rather than at the top, because 
were a large sow to run under a door, and a pig should 
be close behind her, the weight of the door would in- 
jure the pig. A piece of hard wood scantling should 
be pinned under the door for a threshold, the top of 
which should be beveled each way, from the middle, so 
that no substance will get under the door to hinder its 
closing. When it is desirable to fasten the outside door, 
let a pin be put in a hole, on each side of it. By this 
arrangement, a door can be adjusted, so as to allow 
swine to go into their pen, and not out of it, or to go 
out of it, and not be able to go in again. Then, when 
small pigs are to be let through the door-way, without 
the sow, a shorter door can be hung in the same door- 
way, which would allow pigs to pass under it, both in 
and out of the pen. 

How TO MAKE Hog-troughs. — Many farmers have 
made such inconvenient hog-troughs, and have become 
so accustomed to see their swine put their feet into the 
trough, that they have almost come to the conclusion, 
that a hog can eat better with one or both feet in the 
trough. No conclusion was ever more stupid. Swine 
can not eat from a trough that is eight, or ten inches 
deep. They are coynpelled to mount into such a deep 



THE NEAT HABITS OF SWINE. 619 

trough "mth all fours." My sliotes and swine never 
put their feet in the feeding-trough, any sooner than a 
cow would plant her feet in the manger, as the trough 
was made of such a form that small shoats could eat 
their allowance, without any necessity for lifting a foot 
into the trough. The front side of the trough was not 
over three inches high, at the lowest part of the scol- 
lop. At a distance of twelve inches, the side of the 
trough was scolloped out smoothly, so that the shotes, 
or hogs could stand one foot apart, from center to cen- 
ter. Then, the only partition between the swine and 
the feed room, consisted of a flap-door hung with the 
lower edge in the trough. When the feed was to be 
put in, the flap was thrust to the side of the trough 
nearest the hogs, and there bolted. Then the feed 
could be distributed the entire length of the trough. 
All the animals would then stand up straight, in the 
desired place, ready to eat. As soon as the swill was 
put in, the flap was drawn to the back side of the 
trough, and fastened. Then every one could advance 
just enough to put his snout, without either foot, into 
the trough. A trough three inches deep, by ten wide, 
will contain all the feed that will be distributed at one 
feeding. If such a trough were twenty feet long, 
twenty swine of medium size, would have sufficient 
room when eating, side by side. 
The Neat Habits of Swine. — 

" In bake, without the hog, or even in a stew, 
Pray, what could we, or our good housewives do ■? 
Sore grief would seize on many a bosom stout, 
If by perchance, the hog should once step out." 

Instead of being the dirtiest, swine are the neatest 
and cleanest in their habits of all domesticated animals. 



620 todd's country homes. 

Their proprietors are the filthy ones — not the swine. 
When an animal will stand or lie in its own filth, while 
it has its liberty, is it filthy, or not? All say, filthy. 
Now, confine a horse, bullock, cow, sheep, or any other 
domesticated animal except swine, in a small apart- 
ment, and will it void in one corner, as much as prac- 
ticable, and keep a clean place to lie down ? None but 
a hog has ever been known to do it. Horses, oxen, 
cows and sheep, void anywhere and everywhere, but 
swine appropriate one corner, and thus keep their bed 
clean, provided their proprietor has arranged their sty, 
in the best manner, furnished it with clean materials 
for a bed, and clean water to wash in. Swine need 
to wash, frequently, in order to keep in good health. 
Therefore, when pure water is not accessible, they 
plunge into the mire, and wallow in the mud, to do 
their bathing. Let a man wash his hands in thin mud, 
and, as soon as it is dry, it will peel off, taking with it 
all the impurities of the skin, thus leaving the flesh as 
clean and healthy as that of a child. Let it be re- 
membered that it is the habit of cleanliness that in- 
duces swine to wallow in the mire. This consideration 
teaches that fattening swine should always be provided 
with a pool of clean water, where they may go and 
wash when they feel like it. By this means, they 
would keep as clean and sweet as lambs, and their flesh 
would be more healthy than it usually is, as an article 
of food. It is sacerdotal nonsense for people to repeat 
the old inappropriate saw: "As dirty as a swine." 
Let a sow with a dozen pigs have a clean bed of straw, 
and she will teach every youngster, before it is half as 
old as a boy that is old enough to be spanked, to leave 



GRINDING GRAIN FOR DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 621 

their droppings in a far away corner, and to keep their 
sleeping apartment as neat as a bandbox. 
•Grinding Grain for Domestic Animals. — 

" Ground feed or shorts, if fed besides, 
Will surely make two noble strides." 

When well-cured grain is taken into the stomach of 
man, or an animal, before it is crushed, almost every 
kernel will be cast out among the fecal matter, without 
having imparted any nourishment. Kernels of oats 
have a very thick and tough envelop, which the juices 
of the stomach will very seldom dissolve. Other cereal 
grain is enveloped by a similar hull, although not quite 
so tough. Still, if wheat, barley or Indian corn be 
swallowed, the kernels will usually pass through most 
animals without losing their vitality. Of course, such 
grain will nourish an animal but little if any more 
than an equal number of small stones. Domestic 
fowls and birds swallow grain whole, and after it has 
lain in their crops till it has become softened, it passes 
into the gizzard, where the kernels are imperfectly 
ground among gravel-stones. The gizzard of a fowl, 
having a few gravel-stones in it, subserves the impor- 
tant purpose of poor teeth. Animals having poor 
teeth, do not always crush every kernel of grain ; con- 
sequently, a loss must be sustained in the grain, as. it 
will not be digested. 

Analytical chemists inform us that grain, as well as 
the meal or flour which it makes, is composed of glob- 
ules so very small that they cannot be discovered with 
the naked eye. The globules of wheat flour are said 
to be not more than a two-thousandth part of an inch 
in diameter. After the tough skin which envelops the 
kernel of grain is broken, and the portion that fur- 



622 todd's country homes. 

nishes nourishment is reduced to a fine powder, these 
globules afford nourishment to the animal system. 
These suggestions will enable farmers to understand 
the importance of grinding all their grain, previous to 
feeding it to either store or fattening animals. The 
older grain is, until it has been kept over one winter, 
the harder the kernels are, and the more difficult they 
will be to digest. Even after old grain has been ground 
into coarse meal, much of the coarser part will pass 
them undigested, unless it has been cooked. These 
fragments of kernels of grain, or masses of globules, if 
scalded, will be reduced to the finest possible condition, 
and the nourishment afforded by them will be in the 
most available form to produce fat or flesh. Fragments 
of vegetables and fruit, such as apples and pears, need 
to be reduced to a fine condition by some mechanical 
means, before an animal will always be able to extract 
all the nourishment which those substances are capable 
of affording. Every particle of food must be reduced 
to a liquid state, before it can be absorbed by the organs 
of the stomach, and nourish the animal system. When 
apples, potatoes, or turnips are not crushed fine, large 
fragments are forced out of the stomach before they 
have had time to be digested, and all the nourishment 
contained in such pieces will be lost, except for manu- 
rial purposes. But, if the food be cooked, the masses 
of globules which are secreted as fat, flesh, and other 
parts of an animal, will be readily and thoroughly di- 
gested. 

I once procured a quantity of horse manure for top- 
dressing strawberry plants, and in a few days after the 
mulch was spread around the plants, the broken ker- 



GRINDING GRAIN FOR DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 623 

nels of oats vegetated, so that the entire surface of the 
ground appeared as green as a lawn. This fact showed 
conclusively that much of the grain had never afforded 
the animals that swallowed it, any nourishment at all. 
Young horses having sound and sharp teeth, will some- 
times crush every kernel. But old horses with poor 
teeth, will frequently swallow half their mess of oats, 
without breaking the skin of the kernels. Most swine 
bolt down their food so voraciously, that if the kernels 
are not ground fine, much of the grain will not be di- 
gested. 

I was once fattening a herd of swine, chiefly on 
meal. Three tubs were placed near the trough, into 
each of which a quantity of meal for one feeding, was 
put, every time the animals were fed; three times daily. 
Water was also added sufficient to keep the meal soak- 
ing twenty-four hours. To my great surprise, by 
washing the droppings of the swine, I found that the 
fecal matter was full of small fragments of undigested 
meal. But, when the meal was cooked, as suggested 
in the chapter on Domestic Economy, under the head 
of Making Choice Pork, the fattening animals appeared 
to digest every particle of the meal in a most thorough 
manner. Suppose, for example, a teamster is accus- 
tomed to feed a team eight quarts of Indian corn alid 
oats, at each feeding, say three times a day. Let the 
grain be put in a pail and covered with warm water 
every time the team is fed. This plan would require 
three pails, when a team is fed three times dailj^ 
Warm water is far better than cold water, as cold water, 
in cold weather, will soften the grain but little. Team- 
sters may rest assured that it will pay well for all 



624 



TODDS COUNTRY HOMES. 



trouble to soak all grain before feeding it. And yet, 
it will be still more profitable to grind the grain into 
fine meal, and cook it, before it is fed to animals of 
any kind. 

Portable Farm-Mills. — 

"Woe to the wicked millers who take too much toll!" 

Most farmers know the great advantage of grinding 
their own grain for domestic animals. But the enor- 
mous expense incurred in getting their grain ground at 

grist-mills, has tended to 
discourage them in the 
practice of grinding their 
grain before it is fed. With 
a good farm-mill, which 
can be driven by two 
horses, a farmer can grind 
his owm grist, save the toll, 
and do it usually in less 
time than would be re- 
quired to cart his grain to 
the custom mill. The il- 
lustration herewith given 
represents a cast-iron mill, such as can be obtained at 
most agricultural warehouses, suitable for grinding all 
kinds of grain and Graham flour, either by hand or 
horse. The grinding surfaces are made of cast-iron, 
consisting of rows of teeth on each grinding plate, 
which match into, and run between each other. One 
man can operate it by hand to grind a small quantity 
of grain ; or the power of one horse, two horses, or six 
horses may be applied to the same machine and grind 
a large quantity. Such a mill is durable, and efficient 




A PORTABLE GRAIN-MILL. 



PORTABLE FARM-MILLS. G25 

for the purpose intended, and is a labor-saving machine 
much needed by farmers. In these days of wholesale 
robbery, when vandalism prompts honest millers to 
steal farmers' grists, and return to them the toll, farm- 
ers will hail with delight such a farm-mill, with which 
they can grind their grain, at their most convenient 
seasons. When I lived on the farm, I had a cast-iron 
mill, similar to this one, with which all my coarse grain 
was ground for domestic animals, and it would make as 
beautiful wheat flour, Indian corn meal and buckwheat 
flour, as we could get at the custom mills. I have now 
a small hand-mill with which we can grind wheat flour 
enough for a batch of bread, in a few minutes. Poor 
men and farmers cannot save money faster, than to 
procure such a mill for grinding their own grain, 

In my family, we eat a great deal of cracked wheat, 
cooked and prepared like rice. Everybody likes it; 
and the meal of wheat is one of the cheapest, and yet 
one of the most healthful articles of food that can be 
eaten. Cracked wheat is a luxury that few families 
will procure, unless they first obtain a mill to grind 
the grain. Such food makes excellent living, and it is 
more economical than the best of white bread. Very 
few kinds of human food will make more good blood 
than cracked wheat, boiled like rice, and eaten with 
milk, cream, or butter and sugar. I purchase the 
cleanest wheat that can be found, and the hoys can 
grind a few quarts in a short time. They grind the 
Indian meal also. In this way, the meal is fresher and 
more palatable, than if it had been ground several 
weeks. All our chicken feed, consisting of Indian 
corn, wheat and other grain, is ground in this hand- 

40 



626 todd's country homes. 

mill, and soaked over night, before fowls are allowed 
to eat it. By this preparation of the grain, a bushel 
is made to yield a much larger amount of nourishment, 
than if it were fed whole. 

What a convenient, money-saving machine such a 
mill would be for a poor man. After his day's work 
is done, he can grind enough flour, or meal, coarse 
or fine, in half an hour, to supply his family several 
days, thus saving his toll and the expense of going to 
mill. AVith my two-horse railway power, such as is 
illustrated on page 552, I was accustomed to grind 
from five to six bushels of hard grain per hour. 

The Advantage of Cooking Feed. — 

" Don't be afraid of steaming feed ; 'tis good for stock — it is, indeed : 
It helps the organs of digestion, of which there can't be any question." 

Rice's Barn yard Lyrics. 

It has already been suggested, in a preceding para- 
graph, that grain can not nourish animals, until the ker- 
nels are crushed. And even then, the fragments are 
so compact, that before the juices of the stomach can 
dissolve them, in many instances, large particles will be 
hurried through the bowels undigested. For this rea- 
son, steaming, or boiling hard feed, will soften the com- 
pact fragments, thus rendering the nourishment avail- 
able. The globules constituting meal, flour and starch, 
whether contained in grain or roots, are incapable of 
affording any nourishment as animal food, until they 
are thoroughly softened and macerated. These glob- 
ules vary in different roots, tubers and seeds. Those of 
potato starch for instance, are usually from fifteen ten- 
thousandths to the four-thousandth part of an inch. 
Those of wheat rarely exceed the two-thousandth part 
of an inch, and so on. No mechanical method of 



THE ADVANTAGE OF COOKING FEED. 627 

breaking or grinding, is more than partially efficient. 
The most efficient means of breaking the globules is 
by heat, by fermentation, or by the chemical agency 
of acids or alkalies. Although the fragments of these 
shells are not nutritive, they are indispensable to com- 
plete digestion, either from their distending the stom- 
ach, or from some other cause not understood, it hav- 
ing been found by experiment that concentrated nour- 
ishment, such as sugar or essence of beef, can not long 
sustain life, without some mixture of coarser or less 
nutritive food. There is always an agreeable stimu- 
lus in the proper distention of one's stomach with light 
and bulky food. The economical preparation therefore 
of all food containing globules or fecula, consists in 
perfectly breaking the shells, and rendering the dex- 
trine contained in them soluble and digestible, while 
the fragments of the shells are at the same time ren- 
dered more bulky, so as the more readily to fill the 
stomach. It will always pay a satisfactory profit, to 
steam most kinds of meal, especially when it is to be 
fed to fattening animals. 

There is a great gain in having it ground and 
cooked or scalded. No grain should be fed without 
one or both of these being done, as animals are more 
quiet and contented, and therefore gain flesh much 
faster. I am confident that food is as much better for 
swine and cattle, for being cooked, as it is for man. 
When animals are first put up for fattening, care 
should be taken that grain of great nutritive proper- 
ties should be fed with caution, as the appetite is gen- 
erally great, and overfeeding them with such grain will 
hurt them. The best plan that I know of, is to mix 



628 todd's countet homes. 

lighter grains and have them all ground together. 
Corn-meal possesses great nutritive properties, and 
animals will fatten faster on it than almost any other 
grain ; but it will not answer to feed them wholly on 
this for a great length of time. In connection with 
every piggery there should be an apparatus for steam- 
ing or boiling, where the several articles of food can be 
prepared and tempered with economy and ease. Ap- 
ples are excellent for feeding swine, and if boiled or 
steamed and mixed with corn and cob-meal, will be 
found to contribute essentially to the economy of fat- 
tening not only of swine,, but of other animals. Many 
farmers feed only their best and most valuable grains 
and vegetables, and feed them raw. In this way a 
much larger quantity of food is required than would 
be necessary, were the food prepared by boiling or 
steaming. Indian corn fed whole is always an expen- 
sive article in fattening any animal, and those who rely 
upon it exclusively for making pork, must not be sur- 
prised if their meat costs them more per pound thar^ 
the same is worth in the market. Many farmers are 
aware that the corn consumed by an animal, will, if 
sold in the market at the common price, purchase more 
pork than it will make. But by selecting poor corn, 
grinding it into meal, and cooking it either by boiling 
or steaming, and wdien convenient, mixing it with 
boiled potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots or pumpkins, all 
of which are highly nutritious and salutary in their 
effects upon the general health, a very considerable 
and important saving may be made, and the pork, in- 
stead of being an expensive article of food, will be 
rendered an economical one. I have experimented so 



FATTENING SWINE. 629 

extensively with raw versus steamed feed, that I have 
no doubts at all when I affirm that swine and poultry 
will thrive more satisfactorily on sixteen bushels of 
cooked meal, than on twenty-four of uncooked. 
Fattening Swine. — 

" The well-fed, lazy swine, recumbent in the sty, 
Tui'ns in his lair and nestles warm and dry." — ^Edwards. 

When hogs begin to take on flesh rapidly, and it 
is desirable, as it always should be, to hasten their fat- 
tening, as much as possible, it is necessary to exercise 
no little caution in giving them their food, lest they be- 
come cloyed. When the appetite once becomes really 
satiated, we may at once abandon the idea of making 
pork very rapidly. The appetite should be watched 
with great vigilance, and should always be kept keen. 
No more food should be given at one time, than will 
be immediately consumed. When a hog will come 
readily to his trough, and eat his allowance greedily, 
and lick his trough, the quantity of food may be in- 
creased a little. But be careful ! One or two handfuls 
of meal too much, will do mischief Better hear them 
squeal a little, than to see them come to their trough 
with indifference, and root over their food a little, and 
return to their nest without eating. When hogs are 
fed at one meal, about as much as their stomachs can 
digest, let the quantity be increased a little, at one 
feeding. If that quantity is devoured readily, feed 
that quantity for a number of days, then as soon as 
they exhibit signs of quitting the trough before it is 
all licked up clean, let the quantity be diminished a lit- 
tle, from the last feeding. The greatest regularity 
should be observed in giving swine their meals. When 
the hour arrives for their accustomed meal, and they 



630 todd's country homes. 

are compelled to fret and squeal an hour or two, or 
more, for their dinner, the digestive powers will be 
more or less deranged. Then if the appetite is some- 
what delicate, which is often the case, it will be a long 
time before they can be made to eat well again. What- 
ever may be the food, the quantity, to a half pint, 
should be observed. Throwing to them an ear of corn, 
a few apples, or a little swill, to induce them to come 
to the trough between meals, should never be done. 
Feeding them an extra quantity, when one is expected 
to be absent at their next meal time, should be stren- 
uously avoided, as a practice attended with hazardous 
consequences. If one micst he absent, it is far better 
to omit one meal, than to feed them in advance. It 
not unfrequently happens, that fat hogs lose their ap- 
petite, without any apparent cause, and all efforts to 
make them eat are vain. At such times, a handful of 
charcoal dust mingled with their food, or a spoonful of 
sulphur, or a handful of salt, for one hog will operate 
like magic. Sometimes a change of diet has the de- 
sired effect. If unspayed sows refuse to eat, when in 
heat, if none of the above remedies prove effectual, in 
restoring their appetite, about two months before they 
are butchered, they should be allowed to receive the 
boar. Some sows seldom exhibit any signs of heat, and 
as a general thing, if sows are kept in a close pen, 
from the time they are weaned, they will fatten about 
as well as barrows. If it be possible to make them 
fatten well without receiving the male, it is best to keep 
sows from him. When hogs are uneasy and restless, it 
is a sure sign that they are not thriving as rapidly as 
they should. But, on the contrary, when they are dis- 



sows vs. BAEROWS. 631 

posed to spend most of their time sleeping quietly in 
their bed, and when they utter the contented grunt, we 
may rest assured that they are in a very thrifty con- 
dition. Let the appetite always be kept keen. It is 
far better to feed somewhat sparingly, so that hogs will 
become a little hungry, than to be obliged to drive them 
to the trough. Three times a day is better than four 
or five times, to give them their allowance. Then, the 
stomach will have time to rest ; whereas, if they be fed 
oftener, digestion will not be so complete, as it should 
be. I am confident that it is far better to require fat- 
tening swine to eat up every allowance clean, than to 
allow feed to remain in the trough, so that they may 
eat a little at any time. It will be found that the ob- 
servance of these suggestions will more than repay 
any care or trouble which may be required to put them 
in practice. 

Sows VERSUS Barrows. — For several years after I 
commenced farming operations, by myself, my practice 
was to purchase two pigs in the spring, and keep them 
in a small, clean pen, until they were ready to be 
slaughtered. I usually purchased a male and a female 
pig, as sellers did not like to sell two males, and keep 
the females. By keeping the sows in a close pen, feed- 
ing them liberally, with great regularity, I never dis- 
covered that one of them exhibited any signs of heat. 
In every instance, the females were heavier, when the 
two were butchered. If they had been permitted to 
run at large, no doubt there would have been difficulty 
in fattening young sows. If kept in a small pen, I 
would as soon have a young sow to fatten as a barrow. 
(Read about Making Choice Pork, page 280.) 



G32 todd's country homes. 

Swine HroiENE. — 

" 'Tis best for him who is the boss, 
To shield himself from waste and loss, 
With his own hands his swine to feed, 
That all may get just what they need." — Barn-yakd Lyrics. 

A hog is an animal which cannot be " doctored " with 
any more satisfactory results, than one can doctor a 
goose when it is ill. It is a rare occurrence for a hog 
to be sick, when the animal has been properly fed and 
protected from cold. In all my experience with 
swine, *I never had a sick hog, except as I fed young 
pigs cold and uncooked food, soon after they were 
weaned, which caused them to scour terribly, so that 
half of one fine brood were lost. In one instance a 
shote lost the use of one fore-leg, which is a common 
occurrence, especially for sliotes to become stift' in the 
limbs, without any apparent cause, commencing in 
their fore parts generally, and gradually extending over 
the whole system, until the animal becomes incapable 
of walking, or even of rising to its feet; and, when 
disturbed, manifests symptoms of pain, and great re- 
luctance to make any effort to rise. In order to under- 
stand the cause of this complaint it is necessary to 
know that inside of the fore-legs of every hog, there 
are from five to seven small apertures or openings, 
from which, when all is right with his pig-ship, exudes 
an oleaginous fluid, keeping the skin moist and supple, 
which appears to be an important adjunct to the health 
of the animal. From some cause (generally local,) 
these apertures become clogged, the skin dry and 
chaffy, hard and rigid, wdien stiffiiess of the limbs super- 
venes, which stiffness gradually extends to the whole 
body. The remedy is to cleanse the inside of the fore- 



TREATMENT FOR SCOURS. C33 

legs of the invalid, scrubbing well with soap-suds and 
a corn-cob to remove the scales, yet not so hard as to 
rub off the skin, gently opening the orifices with the 
end of a smooth knitting-needle, and when dried 
anointing with a little clean lard. After this, give the 
animal the benefit of a clean and warm sty, well ven- 
tilated, with a change of light feed, such as cooked 
meal, boiled potatoes and warm dish-water, all mingled 
together, and fed warm. The very best kind of doc- 
toring is such management as has been indicated on 
the preceding pages. 

Treatment for Scours. — This complamt is a com- 
mon one, and it can always be traced to some local 
cause. The scours is a complaint much to be dreaded. 
If it is not soon checked, the more robust and vivacious 
pigs will waste away to an unsightly skeleton, and 
ultimately die. With pigs of sufficient age to feed at 
the trough, this is often produced by overfeeding with 
cold, uncooked meal and swill, or with something of 
too loosening a nature. But young pigs, that derive 
their nourishment only from the sow, are also liable to 
the disease. In such instances, the difficulty must be 
looked for in the management of the dam. A cold 
and uncomfortable piggery will often cause the scours. 
The remedy is, a comfortable bed. Cold and frozen 
apples and potatoes fed to a sow will often cause every 
pig to scour terribly. The remedy is to feed cooked 
food and cow's milk. In case a supply of milk can not 
be obtained, when pigs exhibit symptoms of this com- 
plaint, confine them in a clean, roomy pen, and feed 
them upon a strong decoction of- clover hay, made by 
boiling, or pouring boiling water upon the heads and 



634 todd's country homes. 

leaves of clover hay, into which stir as much oat-meal 
or wheat flour, unbolted, as will make a thick gruel. 
But in no case use corn-meal, as it will only aggravate 
the complaint. By way of variety you may give oc- 
casionally a little boiled oats with a very good effect. 
Where the pigs are too young to be treated thus, the 
sow and her brood must be similarly confined, and sub- 
jected to the same regimen of living, as the pigs will 
draw from her udder, the curative properties of the 
food she eats. But, after all, the very best remedy is 
a timely preventive by feeding the right quality and 
kind of food, and providing with a clean and warm sty. 
When swine are allowed to have the range of an en- 
closure extending from Chicago to Boston, ever run- 
ning the gatintlet between barking, biting and worrying 
curs on one side, and a long line of ill-natured humans 
on the other side, the proprietor may expect scours, 
weak hack, and a score of other complaints, which good 
management, only, will prevent. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

REARING AND MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY. 

Denominations of Poultry — A Ton of Poultry — How to Improve Poultry 
— Management of Sitting Hens— Eggs and their Correct Management 
— Young Chickens and their Management — Protection from Pirates — 
Turkeys and their Management — How to make their Nests — The Way 
to Build a Cheap Poultry House — Remedy for Lice. 

Denominations of Poultky. — 

"See the poultry round the gate, for their morning portion wait: 
Fill the basket from the store, let us open wide the door. 
Tlu-ow out crumbs and scatter seed ; let the hungry poultry feed. 
Call them. See how fast they run — gladly, quickly — every one." 

The word poultry embraces all kinds of domestic 
fowls. At the markets, poultry is distinguished as live 
and dressed. Roosters or cocks are the entire males 
of gallinaceous or " barn-door fowls," and hens are the 
full grown females, although the word hen properly 
signifies a female of several other species of fowls. A 
cock is denominated a rooster to distinguish him as the 
master of the flock, or " the cock of the walk," from 
his cotemporaries. The master cock, that often drives 
every other male from the premises, and prevents 
their going into the hennery — when he can do so— is 
called a rooster, because he rules the roost. A capon 
is a male fowl that was caponized before he had fully 
matured. A pullet is a young hen, less than a year 
old. Chick, or chicken, is properly applied to the 



636 todd's country homes. 

young of gallinaceous fowls; although young turkeys 
are often denominated chicks, turkey chicks, or young 
turkeys. The male of turkeys is called a turkey cock, 
or gobbler, from the fact that he is such a greedy gor- 
mandizer when he has access to the soft and delicate 
feed of the tender chicks. The female turkey is spoken 
of as a hen, or hen turkey. Two hens and a cock are 
usually denominated a trio. 

How TO Improve the Breeds of Poultry. — 

" From fairest creatures, we desire increase, 
That thereby, Beauty's rose may never die ; 
And, as the riper should by time decrease, j 
His tender heir might bear his memory." 

Sonnets by Shakespeare. 

A person needs and must have a correct understand- 
ing of the general principles of breeding domestic ani- 
mals, before he can expect to have his efforts to im- 
prove poultry, crowned with satisfactory success. He 
must understand the principles of breeding sufficiently 
well to know when like will produce like, and also 
when like will not produce like. Read the suggestions 
touching the breeding of domestic animals, in the 
chapters on horses, cattle, sheep, and swine. The gen- 
eral principles alluded to in those places, will be found 
quite as apjDlicable and reliable in instructing the be- 
ginner, in the breeding and rearing of all kinds of 
poultry, as in the breeding of quadrupeds. Success 
will depend on a correct beginning. 

The first inquiry usually is, when one is about to 
commence rearing poultry : " Which, among the many 
improved breeds, will be found the more profitable?" 
Several breeders of gallinaceous fowls have attempted 
to answer this question, so that beginners could see 



HOW TO IMPEOVE THE BREEDS OF POULTRY. 637 

their way to success, as it appeared to themselves. 
But, in most instances, it has turned out that the test 
of merit with every writer, has been the particular 
breed of fowls which he has made preparations for sell- 
ing. For this reason, when a beginner inquires of a 
poultry fancier as to which breed will be found the 
most profitable, the interested counselors will advise, 
by all means, to purchase the Crevecoeurs, the Polands, 
the Black Spanish, the Brahmas, or some other breed, 
or variety in which he may possess some pecuniary in- 
terest. Unfortunately for beginners, no one has ever 
given the world the results of a long and well con- 
ducted experiment in rearing the various breeds side 
by side, from which one could perceive, at a glance, 
w^hich breed will give the most satisfactory returns, the 
management being the same. Therefore, beginners will 
be under the necessity of starting off according to the 
dictates of their own judgment, or the counsel of some 
one who has met with satisfactory success in the rear- 
ing and management of a certain breed, or cross be- 
tween breeds. If one has a clear conception of the 
object to be attained in the management of poultry, it 
will not be difficult to decide as to the breed, or the 
variety to be reared. 

One may make a beginning with the assurance of 
satisfactory success, in the following manner. Select a 
few thrifty and beautiful hens, not more than one year 
old, as hens when three years old have lost their ac- 
customed prolificacy. It will not pay to expend large 
sums of money for hens of some improved breed, or for 
eggs that have been laid by mongrels. Next, get a 
thorough-bred rooster, if one can be found, without 



638 todd's country homes. 

paying more than the entire flock will be worth at the 
end of the year. With such a beginning, a judicious 
manager will be able to produce as many eggs, and as 
many pounds of poultry, as if he had paid $50 per 
head for a quarto or octavo of some breed of unrivaled 
celebrity. 

The next consideration will be the management. 
Success will depend on the man, or the person, who 
takes care of the flock. If poultry are provided with 
comfortable quarters in cold weather, with a liberal 
supply of nutritious food and an ample range of yard, 
all the requirements of success will be met, and there 
will be no such thing as a failure in poultry raising. 
But the details must be attended to with the accuracy 
of a reliable clock, or one may look, labor, and wait in 
vain for the rewards of his industry. Fowls will not 
breed satisfactorily, and they cannot lay early and late 
in the season, when they must sit shivering all the live- 
long night. This will be found a reliable test, if an 
animal of any kind is in such uncomfortable quarters 
that he shivers most of the time with cold, the feed 
may as well be cast into the manure yard. After the 
first flock of chickens has matured, select the fairest 
and most beautiful pullets, exchange roosters with some 
neighbor who exercises great care iir the management 
of his poultry, and thus prevent any deterioration in 
the fowls. Well-bred mongrels will always produce 
more eggs, and yield a larger quantity of meat, than 
fowls of any pure breed, on the same principle that the 
finest and heaviest fat bullocks that were ever received 
in the New York market, were grades rather than full- 
blooded animals. Nature will concentrate in one or 



MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS. 639 

two roosters a larger proportion of the desirable points 
to be developed, than in other members of the brood. 
In many instances, a portion of the roosters do not 
seem to know enough to go to roost at sundown, unless 
the motherly hen will cluck the lead. Such roosters 
are not fit for breeders. On the contrary, there is a 
forward and wide-awake chap. He gets off a proud 
" cuck-adoo-do " almost before he has torn away from 
his mother's apron strings. And before he is half 
grown he refuses to run for the old rooster. That is 
the rooster to select for a breeder, as he will transmit 
more good points to his posterity than any other 
chicken in the flock. (Read Denominations of Poultry, 
p. 635.) 

Management of Turkeys. — 

"Pe, pe, PE ! O, pray, wait for me, 
Says the turkey brood, as plain as can be. 
Gobble, gobble, gobble ! away let us hobble, 
Says the strutting cock, with a haughty wabble. 
So they cackle and crow, hiss, gobble and blow, 
All shrieking at once, both high and low." 

If a person does not understand the management of 
turkeys, he will wish he had never made an effort to 
rear a flock, long before the first bird is large enough 
for a Christmas dinner. It requires nice tact, and in- 
timate knowledge of the habits and requirements of 
fowls, to succeed satisfactorily, in rearing turkeys. If 
one starts wrongly, every thing will continue to (jo 
wrong and unsatisfactory. 

If turkeys are half fed, and are compelled to roost on 
trees during the winter, when the spring opens they 
will be like a cow or an ox that has been compelled to 
subsist on little else besides straw all winter; and they 
will be prepared to lay only a very limited number of 



640 todd's country homes. 

eggs; whereas, had they been protected from the 
intense cold, as hens usually are, and kept in good con- 
dition until spring, they would roll out the eggs nearly 
equal to the good old hen of Mother Grimes. 

Another cause of failure, in raising turkeys with 
profit and good success, is in-and-in hreeding, in a very 
injudicious manner. Many people pay no attention 
whatever to changing their gobblers, hens, or their 
eggs, but breed from the same, year after year, and the 
consequence often is, the turkeys become diminutive in 
size and less prolific, every season. In most instances, 
the hest gobblers are sold, and the i^oorest retained as 
breeders. Another cause of failure in attempting to 
raise turkeys, is, commencing too early in the season. 
Young turkeys are as feeble and tender as a feeble 
eoslins:, and cannot endure cold or wet: and even 
when allowed to run about in the wet grass, they 
hardly recover from the injury received by it during 
the warm day. They like a warm place, a clean place, 
and a dry and airy place, where they can bask in the 
warm rays of the sun, and run about sufficiently to 
give them healthful exercise, and where they will not 
be compelled to chase their mother all day, instead of 
being hovered by her. Another cause is the kind and 
quality of food which is fed to them, while they are 
very young. Thousands upon thousands of young 
turkeys have been killed almost right out, simply by 
improper food. By keeping turkeys well, giving them 
a variety of good food and water every day ; by keep- 
ing them in a warm place during the cold weather of 
fall, winter and spring, we render them far more prolific 
than they would be if they were half-frozen and half- 



MANAGEMENT OF SITTING HENS. 641 

starved in cold weather. This is a very important 
consideration in raising turkeys. When they are only 
half-fed, and not protected, they will not lay as early 
in the season as desirable; and when they do begin 
to lay, they will produce only a few eggs before they 
want to sit. 

Management of Sitting Hens. — 

" Cluck, cluck, cluck ; I wish you much luck, 
Said a motherly hen, to a sitting duck." 

There is any amount of stupid management of valu- 
able hens, during the period of incubation. Instead of 
being permitted to sit where hens are liable to be 
molested frequently, by those that are laying, each one 
should be provided with a good nest, in an apartment, 
where none but sitting hens are allowed to enter. As 
soon as a hen seems really in earnest about incubation, 
make a fresh nest for her in one half of a nail-keg, 
sawed in two equal parts. Put a couple of quarts of 
ashes in the bottom, then make a neat nest, with Jflax- 
haum, or swingling-tow, filling the tub about half way 
to the brim. Do not make a deep nest, like a large 
punch-bowl, so deep that eggs will often rest one above 
the other, at the middle of the nest. Bat, make a 
hroad nest with only sufficient concavity to cause the 
eggs to roll towards the center. Put in as many eggs 
as the hen will cover well, place her at night on the 
nest, and carry the tub to .some quiet apartment, 
where she will not be molested by day, and where she 
will be secure from nocturnal marauders. Such an 
apartment should be light and comfortable, as sitting 
hens should not be exposed in a cold and airy place. 
If a granary is as light as it should be, carry all the 
sitting hens into the alley of the granary. Then, let 

41 



642 todd's country homes. 

them have access to a dish of water, and another vessel 
containmg boiled oats, and some other soft feed. 
Management^ of Young Chickens. — 

" Chick, chick, chick, pray, come along quick ! 
I hold in my hands a nice crumb you may pick." 

. After a hen has begun to hatch, so long as she will 
remain on her nest, it will be better to allow the chicks 
to stay in her warm feathers. But if she is uneasy, 
let the young birds be taken away, and put in a basket 
of wool or feathers, and hung up over the stove, where 
they will be comfortable until she has finished hatch- 
ing. Very few young chickens, or young turkeys, are 
alloAved to die for want of food ; while immense num- 
bers are seriously injured by cramming their little 
crops with food that they did not need, and also with 
unsuitable nourishment, even if the birds were hungry. 
Most people seem to think that because the young of 
mammiferous animals desire nourishment as soon as 
they are born, chickens and all kinds of birds should 
have something to eat so soon as they burst the shell. 
But such a conclusion is an egregious error. Young 
birds of the air, and the young of gallinaceous fowls, 
do not require food until they are more than twenty- 
four hours old. Strange as it may appear, a wise pro- 
vision has been made for the nourishment of the young 
birds. Just before the little chick bursts its shell, the 
yolk of the egg, out of which the bird is hatched, is 
drawn through an opening in the breast into the crop. 
This is a wonderful provision of Dame Nature, for 
maintaining the life of a young bird, until the animal 
instinct is so perfectly developed as to enable it to 
choose proper food and to reject that which is hurtful. 
Then, after the yolk in the crops of the young chicks 



HOW TO MAKE TUKKEYS' NESTS. 643 

is digested, another yolk should be provided for them. 
They need soft, tender, delicate food. Think, for a 
moment, how wonderfully successful our domestic pig- 
eons or doves are, in rearing their young ones — a pair 
every month. Were they to feed their young with 
rough, hard food, they would never rear a single bird. 
For this reason, they prepare "dove's milk" for their 
tender offspring, by taking the choicest food they can 
find into their own crops, mingling water with it, trit- 
urating, macerating, soaking, and stirring it up, thus 
producing a rich, delicate fluid, which they disgorge 
into the throats of the young doves. Taking the hint 
from this fact, we are taught the eminent importance 
of preparing soft, delicate, and nourishing food for 
young chickens. Graham flour, cooked and made thin 
with milk, is one of the best kinds of feed for all kinds 
of young chickens or turkeys. Some Indian meal may 
be cooked with the Graham. But avoid all coarse and 
raw feed for young chickens. Curd is still better. 
Everything that has been salted, should be kept away 
from young chickens and young turkeys. But the first 
food that young birds of any kind should receive, is 
boiled eggs. After an egg is boiled, cut the shell in 
two equal parts, and place the pieces where the young 
chickens can have access to the soft and rich food. 

How TO Make Turkeys' Nests. — If turkeys be 
kept as directed, during cold weather, they will begin 
to lay, in ordinary seasons, the last of March. Their 
natural disposition leads them to seek nests in wood- 
lands, away from the farm-house. This should be pre- 
vented. Their natural enemies are crows and hawks, 
foxes and skunks, minks and rats, and other nocturnal 



644 todd's country homes. 

marauders. The fox steals the turkey, the latter the 
eggs. And where these annuals abound, the chance of 
escape from the one or the other is about one in five, 
or one in two, according to locality. Crows will often 
watch laying turkeys for a long time ; and as soon as 
the new egg is left, the sable robber will seize his booty 
and bear it away in triumph. Before the hens begin 
to show a disposition to wander away to find nests, 
suitable nests should be provided. After a turkey has 
once made a nest, it will be almost impossible to induce 
her to lay elsewhere. 

The best way of making nests for turkeys is to 
knock half of one head out of a barrel ; drive four 
stakes into the ground, two feet apart one way, and one 
foot apart the other way ; lay the barrel down on the 
top, and then drive a nail down through the staves 
into the top of each stake. If foxes dwell in the 
region, the stakes should be three feet high. Let the 
stakes, be driven in some secluded nook, to gratify the 
secretiveness of the turkey. Then drive down four 
small stakes before the entrance, and nail a bit of brush 
across the top, in the form of the letter T, so that a 
turkey can walk slyly up to the barrel-head without 
flying, and leave her nest also without flying or making 
any noise. Now, put a lot of hay and straw in the 
barrel; set up old pieces of rails, limbs of trees, and 
brush, all around, and over the barrel, except a narrow 
entrance, which should be on the rear side. If ever- 
green branches can be hung all over the barrel, except 
a small part of the entrance, so as to leave nothing that 
will create suspicion that a barrel or a box is within, a 
turkey will march straight to the secret nook and take 



A RUSTIC POULTRY-HOUSE. 



645 



possession. Let several nests be prepared in the same 
manner, in clumps of bushes, or in corners of fields. 

A Cheap Rustic Hennery. — The accompanying per- 
spective represents a cheap, comfortable, and spacious 
poultry-house, which any farmer, or mechanic can 
make, who has round poles and straw, without any 
sawed lumber, except for the window-frames, doors, 
and door-frames. And, even the doors may be made 




A RUSTIC POULTRY-HOUSE. 



in a neat manner, without a piece of board, or a nail, 
by employing wooden hinges, for the arms, to which 
straight pieces of split, or round timber may be pinned 
with wooden pins ; and the surface of the wooden 
frames, on both the inside and outside, may-be covered 
with long straw lashed to the strips. 

Eggs and their Management. — An egg that is 
properly impregnated, is a living and breathing ex- 
istence. Let the shell be covered with a coating of 
oil, or varnish, so as to render the pores air-tight, thus 
preventing respiration, and the hen may pass her en- 
tire life in a state of incubation, without being able 
to hatch a single chick. Let nits on the hair of 



646 todd's countey homes. 

domestic animals be smeared with oleaginous material, 
such as soft grease, or oil, and they will never hatch, 
simply because there is vitality within the shell, which 
cannot be developed for want of the infinitesimally 
small quantity of air requisite to the maintenance 
of the embryotic existence. If we break the shell 
of a pullet's egg, and turn the contents carefully out, 
the germ will appear in the form of a small, light- 
colored speck floating in the glair, or white portion of 
the egg. If an egg has not been impregnated, this 
germ will not be seen. 

Eggs foe Sitting. — Turkeys' eggs, geese eggs, and 
the eggs of other fowls, should be removed from the 
nest soon after they are laid, the date marked on the 
shell with red chalk or a lead pencil, and be placed in 
a receptacle, on the small end. Oats, or bran, are good 
to stand the eggs in. Then let the eggs be kept in a 
cool and dry place. Let the older ones be used first. 
Every week, the eggs should be turned the other end 
up. In some instances, however, where it is known 
that only one hen is laying in an excellent place for 
her to sit, it will be just as well to allow the eggs to 
remain in the nest. 

How TO Keep Eggs Fkesh. — As I have already 
shown, an egg-shell is so porous that air will pass 
through it, and aqueous vapor will escape from the 
egg. Eggs are composed of more than half a dozen 
chemical ingredients, some of which are very volatile. 
Hence, the atmosphere with its powerful agencies, 
works quickly upon the contents of the porous shell. 
Now, then, in order to render the shell perfectly air- 
tight, if eggs be put in solution, no matter what it is, 



HOW TO KEEP EGGS FEESH. 647 

they will absorb it. If put in dry measures, the albu- 
men will escape by transpiration through the shell. 
The egg has been coated with every conceivable com- 
position, even in solid stone, and galvanized ; and yet 
the watery material would escape. The philosophy of 
this is, that there is air in the egg before it is treated, 
and this uniting its oxygen and carbon, produces de- 
composition by carbonic acid gas. The yolk of the egg 
first yields; then follows the destruction. Eggs are 
naturally designed to last as long as the hen requires 
to get her brood, and the life germ can be preserved 
only a few weeks. The egg itself may be kept in a 
preserved state for two years, by greasing with tallow 
and lard. But from the time it is thus put up, to the 
end of two years, it will lose its albumen by transpira- 
tion; and while its carbonic acid escapes to a certain 
extent, the egg meat will be reduced so that it will 
shake. For culinary purposes, such eggs will do very 
well. But we want a whole egg, not a half one, and 
we want it fresh. The theory always has been, and 
still is, that to keep an egg fresh the air must be 
excluded. This is the only philosophical treatment of 
it, that can be made. Many old eggs will rattle, when 
shaken, even when they are still good. If held near a 
lighted lamp, in a dark room, the contents of the shell 
will appear as good as if the egg had just been laid. 
But such eggs are stale, '^o fresh egg will rattle when 
shaken. The best way to keep eggs fresh that I have 
ever tried is to melt equal quantities of lard and tallow ; 
keep it as warm as the liquid can be, without scalding 
one's finger; dip the eggs in the liquid as they are 
held in a wire spoon ; put them in a tight keg, and 



G48 todd's country homes. 

keep it in a cool and dry cellar. Every egg will be 
smeared neatly, with an impervious coating of such 
material as will do no harm should a little get into the 
food with which eggs are mingled after the shells 
are broken. 

Constant Access to Food. — Every observing per- 
son knows that fowls want to be eating, at brief inter- 
vals, during the entire day. The philosophy of their 
eating so frequentlj^, and but a little at a time, is, the 
food must have a sufficient time to become softened in 
the crop before it passes into the gizzard, where it is to 
be thoroughly ground and digested ; whereas, when 
fowls are not allowed to have access to their food, but 
are fed once or twice a day, they become very hungry, 
and swallow as much as their crops will hold at one feed- 
ing. Now, for several hours, no food will be sufficiently 
softened to pass into the gizzard. Consequently, their 
grist-mill must stand idle. Soon the moistened grain 
will swell, and distend the crop, so that the bird will feel 
by no means comfortable. Shortly, all the food in the 
crop will be in the proper condition to be ground, and 
the result is, that it is forced through the gizzard, with 
so much rapidity, that it is not half ground, and, there- 
fore, can not be half digested. Then, if it is not half 
digested,, of course, not half the nutriment, or egg-pro- 
ducing material, can be extracted from it. Nor is this 
the greatest drawback attending feeding fowls only 
once or twice a day. When a fowl fills its crop at 
one feeding, before the food can possibly be passed 
through the gizzard, it begins to heat up, and ferment. 
Then derangement and indigestion follow, very much 
as is the case when we fill our stomachs as full as they 



REMEDY FOR LICE. 649 

can be crammed. When fowls have access to grain 
all the time, we see them eat in the morning only 
a few kernels at a time, and after an hour or so, they 
will take a few kernels more, and thus they pass the 
entire day by eating a little at a time, and very often. 

Remedy for Lice. — Let fowls have access to a sand- 
bank, and they will not be troubled with lice. If the 
sand is only dry, they will fill their- feathers full of 
sand, then run a few yards from the sand-box, shake 
themselves violently, when the lice will all be flirted 
out of the feathers with the sand. Lice find very un- 
comfortable quarters, when they are envelojDed in sand. 
But it must be dry, and be kept where rain and snow 
cannot moisten it. After a few days a flock of lousy 
jDoultry will remove several bushels of sand from a box. 
Ashes wall subserve a tolerably fair purpose. But, 
sand is far superior to anything else. Sand does the 
work mechanically. Hens get lousy in wet weather, 
because they have no dry place to dust in. When little 
chickens get lousy, apply lard, or sweet oil beneath 
their wings, and about the head. 

When fowls cannot have the advantage of a sand- 
bed, they should be examined frequently beneath their 
wings and around the neck and head. In many in- 
stances, lice will stick around the head and ears of fowls 
by the score, and the birds cannot remove them. A 
certain and effectual remedy is an application of fresh 
lard, or fresh butter, or sweet-oil round about the head 
and neck, and beneath the wings. Kerosene is also an 
effectual remedy, as it is sure to kill both poultry and 
parasites. One teaspoon-ful of fresh lard is sufficient 
for one fowl. It is better to apply a small quantity 



650 todd's country homes. 

every few days, than a large quantity at one time. 
Lice cannot survive long, where there is only a small 
quantity of oleaginous matter. 

A TON OF Poultry, at only fifteen cents per pound, 
will bring the handsome little sum of $300. Almost 
every farmer in the country might raise from half a ton 
to a ton every season, about as well as not. The chil- 
dren, in some instances, with a little encouragement 
from their parents and guardians, could manage the 
hens and chickens, until they are all large enough to 
take care of themselves. It will not cost near as much 
time, grain, and expense in every other respect, to 
produce a ton of poultry as to make a ton of beef or 
mutton, when such meat is produced by feeding much 
grain. It is usually more economical to raise gallina- 
ceous fowls than ducks, turkeys, or geese, as duck- 
lings and turkeys are sometimes exceedingly tender. 
Chickens can usually be produced with little care and 
at a trifling expense. But, whatever may be the kind 
of poultry raised, in order to meet with satisfactory 
success, it is better to commence improvements in 
autumn, or the fore part of winter, by selecting young 
and thrifty fowls; providing a comfortable place for 
them during the cold weather; keeping them in good 
condition — not too fat — during the winter; and by 
managing judiciously in the spring and summer. Then 
it will be an easy task to raise a ton of poultry, before 
the succeeding winter. Hundreds of famihes, having 
several acres of uncultivated ground near their dwell- 
ings, could rear more than a ton of poultry on the 
refuse of the kitchen, that is devoured by worthless 
dogs, and only a few bushels of ground grain. 



IISTDEX. 



A. PAOE. 

Abutment "Walls, 84 

Apples, and the Culture of Trees, 450-453 

Asparagus, How to Cultivate, . . . 421 

Aspect, Suggestions about, 72-75 

B 

Balloon Frames, 69, 320 

Barley, Description of and Cultivation, 389-395 

Importance of Clean Seed, 393 

Manner of Harvesting, S99-404 

Making Barley Malt 404, 405 

Barns, Manner of Framing, 239, 240 

Beans, Field and Garden Culture, 421-424 

Culture of Lima, 423 

Beef, Mutton and Pork, How to make, 346, 347 

Beets, How to Cultivate, 424 

Benzole and its Uses, 204 

Blackberries and their Culture, 474, 475 

Braces, Illustrated Tie-brace, 242 

Brackets, How to make Fancy, 296 

Brushes for Painting, Care of, ........ . 202 

Buildings, Location of, 34-36 

The Height of, 103 

The Way to Purchase Materials for, .... 251-255 

Framing by Scribe vs. Square Kule, 255-258 

Buggy, The Illustrated Bridal 297 

Bulls and their Management, 544-546 

Butter, How to make Superb, 537-539 

How to Churn and "Work, 539-642 

Making Yellow in Winter, 543 

c 

Construction of Out-houBes, 347, 348 

Cabbages, How to Cultivate, 449 

Calcimine, How to Make and Apply, 211 

Cattle, Breeding and Rearing, 518 

Common Denominations of, 518 



652 INDEX. 



PAOB. 



Cattle, Milch Cows and their Management, 519-52'J 

Pure Water for Cows, 532 

Bulls and their Management, ...... 544-6DG 

How to "Rarey " a Bull, 547 

Calves and their Management, 548-551 

Stock from Hay to Grass, 553, 554 

Fattening old Cows and Oxen 555-5G0 

Carrots, Cultivation of, 417-419 

Cauliflowers, How to Cultivate, 447,448 

Cellars, and how to Make, 77-89 

Cementing the Floor of, 292 

Regulating the Temperature of, 94 

Celery, How to Cultivate, 426 

Cisterns, How to Build, . . . 227-231 

Clover, Description and Cultivation of, 379-389 

Concrete Walls, How to Build, 154-158 

Contracts of Builders, 97 

Corn, Indian, and its Cultivation, 440-443 

Gauge Marker, 444 

Cornice for a Cheap Building, 2C 1 

Cottage, The Pioneer's, 108 

At " Sea-side Park," 158 

Perspective of Morning Glory, 161 

Poor Man's, 114 

Tlie Hazel-Dell, 120 

Persjjective of Clerk's, 165 

For a Mechanic, 172 

Cultivator for Garden, illustrated, 416 

Currants, their Cultivation, etc., 47(M172 

Management of Old Bushes, 472, 473 

D 

Dirt-Catcher, Automatic, 141 

Doors, How to make Panel, 294, 295 

How to make Batten, 147, 148 

How to make Air-tight, 149 

Draining of Wet Land, 334-336 

Economy, Domestic, etc., 273 

Egg Plants and their Management, 424-426 

Eggs and their Management, 645-648 

F 

Farm, Plotting and Laying out the, 46-49 

Outfit of a Small 380,331 

Farms, Large versus Small, 328, 329 

Farmer, a Fiddling, 275 

Learning to be a • • • • 331-832 



INDEX. 653 



PAOB. 



Farming, Commencing Operations, . . 276 

Farm -mill, Hand, illustrated, 624 

Feet, Remedy for Cold, 316-318 

Fodder, Steaming for Stock, 626 

Cutters, illustrated, 551 

Cutting by Horse-power, 552 

Flooring, Management of, 160-162 

Gr 

Garden, The Kitchen, and Management of, 407, 414 

Glossary, The Builders' 17 

Grain, Grinding for Domestic Animals, 621-623 

Grapes, Their Cultivation, etc., 476-481 

Management of Old Vines, 481, 482 

Gooseberries, How to Cultivate, 469, 470 

Gutters, Eave-troughs and Spouting, 145 

H 

Hams, How to Manage, 282 

Harness, Our Bridal, 296 

Oiling and Varnishing, 297 

Home, How to Choose a, 30 

Salutary Influences of 32, 33 

Horses, Denominations of, 483 

Choice of Stallions, 484-486 

Choosing for Agricultural Purposes, 486, 487 

Selecting Breeding Mares, 487, 488 

Management of Brood Mares, 490-492 

Foal, Colts and their Management, 493-499 

Feeding and Stable Management, 499-504 

Rejuvenating Old Horses, 504 

Overdriving and Watering, 506-511 

Stables and Blankets, 512-514 

Hobbling of, illustrated 516 

Horse-power, Railway, illustrated, 552 

Horticulture, and Pomology, 407 

General Principles of, 411, 412 

House, Beginning to Build a, 50 

Preliminaries for Building, 52-54 

Where to Locate, 40-45 

Horace Greeley's, 35 

Site for Summer Residence, 36-39 

How to Build a Cheap, 106 

Planning and Building My Own, 282 

How to Build a Cobble Stone, 168-170 

How I Built without Money, 287-294 

How to Compute the Cost of, . . . . < . . 75, 76 
How to Paint an Old, 199, 200 



654 INDEX. 

X TACK. 

Ice and Ice-Houses, 319-327 

Insects, How to Exterminate, 465 

Inventions, Saving Money in New, 306-309 

J 

Joists, The Best Form of, 100 

K 

Kitchen, The Laborer's, 55 

M 

Maid's Money, The Old, . . . , 277 

Melons and Squashes and their Culture, 427-481 

Milk, Maintaining a full Flow of, 522-524 

How to Milk Correctly, 527-528 

Mortar, Machine for Mixing, 183 

Hydraulic, how made, . , 189-191 

Handling in Freezing Weather, 191, 192 

Muff, How I paid for my Wife's, 303-305 

N 
Nails, How to Use and Anneal, 249-261 

o 

Oats, Description and Cultivation, 362-369 

When to Cut and Manner of Harvesting, 369-373 

Orchard, How to Plant Trees, 450, 451 

When and How to Prune, 457-462 

P 

Painting, The Philosophy of, . 193 

Buildings and Implements, 194 

Paint, Materials for making, . 196, 197 

Various Colors, 201, 202 

Paper, How to Hang on Walls, 212-214 

Parsnips, How to Cultivate, . 419, 420 

Patents, How to Obtain Letters, 309-312 

Peas, Culture of Field and Garden, ....... 432,433 

Pipe, Making Cement Water, 225-227 

How to make Wooden, 233, 234 

Lead of various size, 235-238 

Plowing, How to Plow Deep, 339-341 

Pork, How to make Choice, 280, 281 

Potatoes, Irish, Culture of, 444-447 

Horse-planter, etc., 446 

Poultry, Rearing and Management of, 635 

Common Denominations of, 635 

Management of Sitting Hens, 641 

Rustic Hennery, illustrated, 645 

Management of Young Chickens, 642, 643 

Putty, How to make, 206, 207 



INDEX. 655 

J{, PACK. 

Raspberries and their Culture, 474 

notation of Crops, 346, 346 

Roofs, Reshingling Old, 143, 144 

How to Raise Higher, 145 

Portable Staging for, 205, 206 

Rje, Description and Culture, 374-379 

s 

Sheep, Rearing and Management, 565 

Common Denominations of, 565 

Selecting Stock Rams, 566, 567 

Choosing the Best for Breeders, 568 

Management of Ewes and Lambs, 569-575 

General Management of, 577-579 

How to Handle, and Remedy for Dogs, .... 580, 581 

Feeding Sheep Profitably, 583-586 

Making Fancy Mutton, 586-589 

Washing and Shearing, 590, 591 

Winter Management, and Tagging, 595-597 

Shoes, Care and Management of, 312-314 

How to make to Fit the Feet, 315, 316 

Sleigh and Bridal Cutter, 300-302 

Soil, Maintaining the Fertility of, 342-345 

Squashes and Melons, How to Cultivate, 427-431 

Stairs, How to Build Circular, 290, 291 

Stock, General Management of, 561 

Best kind of Food for Fattening, 562 

Strawberries, Management of, 473^ 474 

Swine, Rearing and Management, 699 

Common Denominations of, 599 

Great Value of, 600-601 

Rules for Crossing different Breeds, 602-604 

How to Select the Best Pigs, 605-607 

Sows and their Management, 609-613 

Sows and Pigs, Management of, 613-616 

The Piggery, Doors and Trough, 617, 618 

Neat Habits of Swine, 619, 620 

Manner of Fattening, 629-631 

Sows vs. Barrows, Swine Hygiene, 631, 632 

Syphon, Practical Advantages of, 224 

System, a Renovating, 333, 334 

T 

Tar, Coal Tar and Tar Paint, 204 

Teams, Arranging Double, . . . . ' 342 

Timber, Preservation of, . . 153, 154 

Working Seasoned, . . 100-103 



656 INDEX. 

PAOB. 

Timber, How to Scarf, . . 245 

Selecting Durable or Perishable, 246-249 

Tomatoes, and their Cultivation, 434-436 

Trees, Economy in Growing, 48-50 

Tricks of Joiners, 95-97 

Transplanter, How to Transplant, 416, 416 

Turkeys, Rearing and Management, 639-641 

How to make tlieir Nests, 643, 644 

Turnips and their Cultivation, 436-440 

V 

Varnish, How to Apply it, 203 

Ventilation, Thorough of Living-rooms, 263, 264 

Natural Means of, 265, 266 

Cold Air Better than Hot, 266, 267 

Suggestions About Night Air, 268-270 

How to Ventilate, 272 

Villa, Perspective of the Author's, 283 

Cheap Italian, 122 

An Oyster-sliell, 127 

w 

Watering Plants Correctly, 463, 46^ 

Weeds, Great Utihty of, . . . . ' 414 

Wells, How to Dig and Stone, 215-224 

Windows, Sash and Glass, . . 150, 151 

How to Paint and Glaze, 206 

Wind-mills for Raising Water 231,232 

Wheat, Description and Cultivation of, 349, 362 

Culture of Spring, 364 

The Best Soil for, 357, 358 

Whitewash, How to make, etc., 210, 211 



N' 



